Rolf Nordstrom, Executive Director of The GreatPlains Institute reports more from Copenhagen: Afternearly a week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference here inCopenhagen, a few things have become clearer.
First,for all the wrangling and posturing, there is great momentum behind eventuallyagreeing on a legally-binding limit on greenhouse gases. From countries youdidn't know existed (think Palau or Sao Tome) to ones we're used to comparingourselves to (China, Russia and the European countries), there is broadagreement that the time is now to put the world on a more sustainable energypath, though there are still big disagreements about how fast and who pays.
Twosmall factoids hint at this momentum: This week more than 113 heads of stateare expected to converge on Copenhagen to underscore their countries' commitmentto tackling climate change. And, the conference organizers have registered34,000 participants from all over the world for this conference (the BellaCenter is only supposed to hold 15,000). Both of these numbers are the highest ever.
Second,even if Copenhagen only produces a "political agreement," it will still likelylay the path for a binding treaty down the road, and a wide range of "oddbedfellows" with whom we've spoken here all seem to think this is a good thing.
Forexample, we sat down and spoke with Dennis Welch, Executive Vice President forEnvironment, Safety, Health and Facilities with American Electric Power. AEP isthe largest utility in the United States and the largest user of coal in thewestern hemisphere, yet they are here to support the U.S. in coming out of thisconference with a clear direction for industry. "You can sense a strong U.S.presence here at the conference, where it hasn't been felt as much in the past.And that is something that all Americans should be proud of."
Third,the incessant hand-wringing, in some quarters, about a "one-world government"capable of imposing limits and costly restrictions on the U.S. unilaterally is ridiculous. Watching the negotiating process up closeconfirms that this is a consensus process (maybe even to a fault) and anycountry can grind things to a halt. No matter what happens here (or at futureUN meetings) any international treaty that the U.S. would be a part of must beratified by Congress. If you doubt that, simply recall that the U.S. signed theKyoto Protocol back in 1997, but Congress rejected it 95 to 0.
Finally,after taking in just a handful of the hundreds of side events here, and listeningto the official plenary sessions, it dawns on you that making the transition topowering our lives with cleaner low-carbon energy is much more a matter ofpolitical will than technological discovery. Translation: we could do this ifwe wanted to, and at a cost that looks modest compared to the checks we've beenwriting as a country lately.
Justto leave with you of one example of what I mean, the International EnergyAgency (not usually known for being wild-eyed environmentalists) reported here inCopenhagen that with existing proven technologies we could build houses thatuse 80% less energy than today's average house. And if the whole world adoptedtoday's best practices, it is "both possible and rationale" to reduce worldwideenergy use up to 75%. This does not make the hard choices about coal andnuclear power go away, but being at Copenhagen is a great reminder that allpeople could have the energy they need to lead a healthy and dignified life ifwe made that our goal.
Rolf Nordstrom is executive director of the GreatPlains Institute, a Minnesota-based nonpartisan, nonprofitcorporation working with Midwestern States and Canadian provinces to acceleratethe transition to a sustainable and prosperous low-carbon economy: www.gpisd.net
