COP22 – Ook Shell heeft een verlanglijstje

7 november 2016Ook Shell heeft een verlanglijstje voor COP22 (‘Five things that must happen’). David Hone, ‘Chief Climate Change Adviser’, presenteert het verlanglijstje op de eigen website van Shell. ‘To keep the deal on track, it is my belief that these must all be delivered in the near term, or before 2020’, schrijft Hone.

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David Hone, Shell Chief Climate Change Adviser: ‘These five steps must all be delivered’

Uit zijn bijdrage op de Shell-website
‘(…) Of all the steps that need to be taken, for me there are five that stand out. To keep the deal on track, it is my belief that these must all be delivered in the near term, or before 2020.

  1. Grandiose promise must become hard numbers
    The decision text notes that combined action to reduce emissions specified by the 196 nations before they gathered in Paris falls far short of the goals of the agreement itself, to limit climate warming to well below 2° Celsius. That means that governments should take stock of their actions in 2018, and assess their progress. This will involve considerably more than a simple review. While the Paris agreement demonstrated a new political consensus on climate change, the same countries now have just two years to turn their promises into hard numbers.
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  2. No more vagueness. Deadlines must be set
    After this stock-take in 2018, the pressure to deliver will only intensify. By 2020, nations will have to reformulate their actions. This will require prompt and probably challenging discussions on a national level. It isn’t just that the combined national actions falls short of the Paris agreement. Today, barely a single one of the plans appears in line with the ambitious goal that emerged on December 12 2015. Only Costa Rica comes close with its landmark proposal to be carbon-neutral by 2100.
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  3. Precise numbers have to be clarified
    The Paris agreement moved the global goalposts when negotiators agreed to limit warming to well below 2° Celsius. But there could be more to come. The agreement offers a so-called stretch goal to limit warming to 1.5° Celsius and gives the science community just two years to establish how that might be achieved. Such a goal requires emissions to fall dramatically over the next 30 years. It could even mean the establishment of industries in the second half of the century that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
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  4. Countries must adapt their energy transition timetables
    The parties to the agreement have just four years to formulate how they will develop economy-wide strategies for lowering carbon emissions through to the middle of the century. These strategies must take into account the goals of the Paris agreement and therefore should draw on the work outlined above, which is not due until 2018. Even for the most advanced economies, plans that stretch over decades outlining the direction of energy systems are a tall order, given the uncertainties historically surrounding energy planning.
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  5. It’s time to talk about government-led carbon pricing systems
    Arguably, the single most important step that governments can take to achieve the goal of the Paris agreement is to implement public policy that places a cost on carbon dioxide emissions. Some may think of this as the business of national or regional governments. But it’s worth thinking about how national currencies work. They are exchangeable around the world according to clear global rules. Article 6 of the Paris agreement offers the opportunity for similar rules for government-led carbon pricing systems, bringing much-needed alignment between the various systems. But Article 6, like the rest of the agreement, is brief. The negotiators now have to turn this into a functioning trading mechanism. This is no small task. But it is a vital one. (…)’

Bronnen
Shell, 4 november 2016: Morocco Climate Talks: five things that must happen
Foto’s: Shell

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