A global emissions-reduction deal: that's the ultimate goal of the UN's climate conference in Copenhagen. But with just a hundred days left before it takes place, that deal is looking shaky. In December, Delegates from some a hundred and ninety countries will head to Copenhagen to try to agree on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. But while the negotiations will not be easy, the UK government remains optimistic. Even here in the UK, where we have our own climate change bill, the government has struggled to make people understand the impact of their emissions which of course are invisible.
A new tool allows us to visualize all that carbon as a quilt trapping heat beneath it. For example, imagine if the quilt covered the whole world, this would be the size of the UK's annual contribution and this patch would represent the USA's carbon footprint.
But China has recently overtaken America as the world's largest emitter. Yet America has historically emitted far more than China. The Chinese government argues it has a moral right to grow its economy which will increase its emissions.
But it's not just about cutting emissions, the campaign Oxfam here highlighting the current climate change risk to those invulnerable countries, in this case, sea level rise. One of the main arguments is over money. The UN reckons about a hundred billion dollars a year will be needed to adapt to the impacts of the climate change. But a new report from leading scientists says the cost has been severely underestimated.
The current UN estimates of the cost of adapting to climate change are probably 2 to 3 times too low. Instead of 100 billion dollars a year by 2030 that's 20 years time ,we need to build up to about 300 billion dollars a year.
The other big question is the United States, and whether president Obama will be in a position to sign up to anything globally significant in December. So the final detail of the plan to save the planet may have to wait a little longer.
Catherine Jacob, Sky News.
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