The failure of last year's Copenhagen climate summit to produce a binding global agreement on reducing greenhouse gases is forcing governments and companies to take a more "bottom-up" approach to cutting emissions, the U.K.'s Chief Scientific Adviser John Beddington said Wednesday.
The failure of last year's Copenhagen climate summit to produce a
binding global agreement on reducing greenhouse gases is forcing governments
and companies to take a more "bottom-up" approach to cutting
emissions, the U.K.'s Chief Scientific Adviser John Beddington said Wednesday.
Although the
Copenhagen
conference didn't meet expectations, it is important to note that big
economies, including
China
, the
U.S.
,
India
,
Brazil
and
the European Union, have recognized that climate change is a serious problem
and they are investing in low-carbon technology, Beddington said.
The failure to agree a timetable for a binding treaty means that in the short
term efforts to reduce carbon emissions would increasingly come from the
national and regional level, including individual
U.S.
states, he said.
"I think the buy-in by the major economies that climate change is a
problem and needs to be addressed by investment, including investment in our
science and technology, is extraordinarily prevalent if not ubiquitous,"
he told a briefing hosted by the
U.K.
's
Energy Technologies Institute.
He said the pledge at last summer's Major Economies Forum to limit the global
temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius showed the level of commitment.
"I think it's that which will be influencing the major corporations rather
than whether a very complex U.N. system gets a unanimous vote from over 190
states," he added.
In December
China
, the
U.S.
,
Brazil
,
South
Africa
and other countries signed
the "Copenhagen Accord"--a non-binding agreement to cap the global
temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius and reduce emissions.
But the accord disappointed many because a final pact wasn't reached, resulting
in the need for future rounds of negotiations on the details.
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