On Thursday, May 15, 2014 we visited CICERO, which is the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research. The talk began with the discussion of the key actors in international climate politics. These actors are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, and they include China, the U.S., the EU, India, Japan, Brazil, and Russia. The individuals at this center study these key actors through in-depth qualitative case studies. They include theory-based variables in their study, which relate to what they expect to contribute to mitigation policies in these countries. The individuals at this center trace complex processes and use both primary and secondary sources to enhance their studies, and their aim is to identify the same variable in all of the cases. When these variables are identified, the cases give more sound backing towards these theories.
The lecturers then discussed the specific roles the individual actors play in climate change, and what circumstances may lead to this role. They began with the U.S., which did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol. It is the second largest emitter with a high coal dependency, and it has decided that it will not participate in a new global agreement unless commitments for non-annex-1 countries are included. China, however, wants to keep the division between developed and developing countries in the UNFCCC. Although China is the world’s #1 investor in renewable energy such as solar and wind, it is the largest GHG emitter and has large problems with pollution because of its high fossil fuel dependence. The EU is the world’s third largest emitter. It has 28 member states with their own policies, so there is difficulty when it comes to establishing agreements. They do, however, have 20-20-20 policies, which provide for a 20% gas reduction, 20% energy efficiency, and 20% renewable energy by 2020. India is the world’s 4th largest emitter and, because it has low per capita emissions, India wants developed countries to take historical responsibility for mitigation. Russia is the world’s fifth greenhouse gas emitter because it is a large oil and gas exporter, however, Russia rejects historical responsibility. Japan is a major emitter because of pressure on nuclear after the Fukushima disaster, and Brazil is a major emitter mainly from agriculture and deforestation.
International negotiations to halt the progression of climate change began in Rio in 1992, where it was agreed that emissions needed to be reduced and developed countries were expected to take the lead. In Berlin in 1995 it was decided that there needed to be an agreement, and the Kyoto Protocol was then formed in 1997. The Kyoto Protocol dictated that countries who signed the protocol had to decrease their emissions by 5%. Many developed countries disliked how developing countries had no restrictions on their emissions, therefore after conferences in Bali and Copenhagen, it was decided in Durban in 2011 that an agreement needed to be formed that all countries would take part in. Because the Kyoto Protocol would only reduce 15% of global emissions by 2020, a spectrum of commitments would be needed based on the country and its greenhouse gas emissions in order to actively reduce the impacts of climate change. It is clear that the world recognizes that something must be done to prevent climate change from continuing, but the kind of agreement between countries that will lead to a large reduction in global emissions remains unclear.