CLIMATE CHANGE

Introduction

Climate mitigation

Climate adaptation

Introduction

Policy makers at both national and international levels are increasingly concerned about the impact of climate change on development and poverty reduction.  Climate change has the potential to derail the global development agenda and roll back the achievements of the past decade.

The balance of scientific evidence points to increasing risks of serious, irreversible impact from climate change, including sea level rises, changing rainfall patterns and an increase in extreme weather events.  These impacts will be felt earliest and hardest in developing countries, even though they contributed little to causing the problem.  Developing countries are concentrated in the geographical zones most exposed to climate change, have economies and societies more vulnerable to its impact, and have fewer resources to fund adaptation.  They faced reduced access to water, lower agricultural productivity, infrastructure damage and increased exposure to vector-borne diseases – all of which could threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of people.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the leading international body for the scientific assessment of climate change and its environmental and socio-economic consequences.  Further reading: Millennium Campaign, “Climate change and the MDGs”, 2008

Action on climate change falls broadly into two areas.  The first is mitigation – namely, reducing the extent of climate change by curbing carbon emissions.  This is primarily an issue for industrialised countries.  The second is adaptation – actions designed to assist countries and communities to adjust to the effects of climate change so as to moderate harm.

Mitigation 

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the principal mechanism for international action on climate change mitigation, supported by a UN Secretariat. It was strengthened by the Kyoto Protocol, which sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by, on average, 5% on 1990 levels by 2012. Recognising that developed nations are mainly responsible for current carbon levels as a result of 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. Negotiations are now underway on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, to be agreed at the UNFCCC Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, has said that the four essential questions for agreement at Copenhagen are: 

• How much are industrialised countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases?

• How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions?

• How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed?

• How is that money going to be managed?

 Further reading: OECD, “Climate change mitigation: what do we do?”, 2009

Adaptation

Many development goals contribute, directly or indirectly, to successful adaptation. Improvements to nutrition, education, infrastructure and health all help to increase the resilience of communities in the face of climate change. However, business-as-usual approaches to development are unlikely to be sufficient. Specific measures need to be taken to identify climate change risks and ensure that they are taken into account in development planning.

In May 2009, the OECD Development and Environment Ministers issued Policy Guidance on integrating adaptation into development cooperation. It advises both national governments and development partners to integrate a ‘climate lens’ into development planning, implementation and monitoring at the national, sectoral, local and project levels. It calls for a ‘whole of government’ approach to climate change, improved monitoring of climate change impacts and innovative new financing mechanisms for adaptation.

OECD countries have acknowledged that there will be a need to fund adaptation in developing countries over and above current ODA commitments. New funding commitments and mechanisms are being discussed in preparation for Copenhagen. The principles of aid effectiveness, in particular country ownership, are equally applicable to adaptation.

The consensus is that adaptation and development go hand in hand. Developing a low-carbon economy can simultaneously address both the climate challenge and the current economic crisis, while providing a long-term path to energy security. The introduction of clean technologies can boost human development and economic growth, while increasing resilience to climate change. However, to achieve this we need to change our development paradigm towards a ‘greener’ model.