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The Climate Change Congress, organized by the International Association
of Research Universities, took place at Copenhagen during the 10-12th
March, 2009. The Congress was attended by over 1500 researchers and
policymakers working on the various aspects of Climate Change. The
Congress tried to bridge the gap that existed between the Science of
climate change and the socio-economic dimensions of the problem.
Having said so, the papers and posters that were put up in the
conference attempted to deal the problem holistically. The urgency of
actions was stressed by the speakers of all the Plenary sessions. The
speakers donned by Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Dr. Nordhus, and Lord
Stern, to name a few stressed upon the need for pro active actions,
and immediate policy changes for reversing the possibilities of the
anthropogenic changes. The focus of discussions were on the recent
findings of the IPCC reports which talks about the possibilities of
crossing the 2 degree mark of temperature increase given the
reluctance of the policymakers to act on reductions of emissions. The
clear message that came out of the various sessions was that there is
a need to act on an immediate basis.
The structure of the Congress was based on the set of Plenary sessions
and the set of parallel technical sessions. In the plenary sessions
the invited speakers discussed about the policy issues pertaining to
the temperature increase, international politics, the technology that
is required and how can it be transferred to the regions where it is
needed. While discussing about the technology transfer, the examples
of various successful green pilot projects were put forward as part
of the green technology development initiative. Professor Dan Kammen,
of the University of California, Berkley, stressed upon the fact that
there are options available for the pursuit of green development,
what we need is to develop the process of transfer to the regions
where it is needed the most. Professor William D Nordhaus, of the
Yale University, identified some alternative policy instruments for
dealing with the climate change. The Carbon tax and the carbon
pricing issues are discussed at length. The fact that the
vulnerability of the carbon market will play a major role in
generating money through the carbon pricing method was espoused by
the noted scholar. According to Nordhaus, the Kyoto policies are
inefficient and in exhaustive, and therefore we need to correct the
market failures through efficient policy making under the convention.
There is a need to include the social cost of emissions while
calculating the costs of emissions to correct the policy
inadequacies. For a prudent carbon pricing policy, the carbon market
there has to be no imperfection in information sharing and also the
vulnerability of the market should be addressed by the economic
tools. The overall submission was in favour of the regulated carbon
pricing and carbon tax.
In the plenary discussion, the contributors pointed out the need for
raising the price of the carbon to 100 USD per ton of carbon. And
also, the requirement of the holistic rescue package was pointed out.
Professor Nebjosa Nakicenovic,
IIASA (The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis)
&
Vienna University of Technology, pointed out that the world is moving
very fast toward a temperature rise of more than that of 2 degrees.
Therefore, the forthcoming COP 15 in December has to make a deal to
come out of the danger. Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the Chairman of the
IPCC and Director General of TERI, New Delhi, India has was
particularly very vocal about the dangers that the world is going to
face about the non-action and the certainty of the temperature rise
beyond the safe level projected earlier. Even the Congress came up
with a few slide shows that show the severity of the problem. The
melting of the three large glaciers around the Alaska, the melting of
a continental ice-shelf in the Greenland area were the best examples
of the severity that the speakers were talking. Ironically, the
policymakers fail to come up with substantial commitments from their
side when it comes to actions, at least in this Congress.
The third entity of the Congress was the Business displays. The companies
like Vestas, Dong, and few other real estate companies displayed the
type of research undertaken in the pursuit of green technology
development and green way of living. However, the talking points were
that of technology market for green technology options, the pricing
issue, that creates a hurdle to be overcome by the international
community. The interesting statistics available from these displays
shows that Denmark has been on a energy efficient pathway. Also there
are few programmes like the electric charged car; grid system based
connectivity for the transport sector, were the highlight of the
displays.
In line with the general concern of the Congress, the parallel sessions
opened up a plethora of issues and detailed discussions on the
science, social-science and the politics of the climate problem. On
behalf of Centad, Tirthankar Mandal made a 15 minutes presentation on
the topic of “Technology
transfer and financing: issues for long term climate policy in
developing Countries”.
The presentation put forward the barriers to the technology
transfers, the trends in the climate related technology transfers,
and thereby was able
to identify the degree of concentration of technology ownership.
Further, the paper stressed on the need for developing a detailed
framework for climate technology diffusion through the use of TRIPS
flexibilities. The basic argument was developed around the need for
securing the development space available for the developing
countries. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the policies that
will facilitate the transfer, diffusion, and deployment of the
technologies in accordance with the UNFCCC. Furthermore, the paper
stressed on the financial mechanisms that will be needed to develop
this smooth functioning of technology deployment. The need for a
dedicated fund for technology purpose in the lines of Adaptation Fund
Board was highlighted. Moreover, the paper suggested on the need to
build the international incubation centres for technology
facilitation, and innovative funding mechanisms. The other speakers
focused on the varied range of issues based on the regional
differences and equity concerns under the climate change regime.
The Congress ended up with a positive note on the fact that the
forthcoming COP 15 on December will be able to clinch some progress
related to the commitments from the developed countries especially
the US for bettering the current situation. Also the need for
innovative ideas for fulfilling the goals of development in a green
way remained the most challenging objective to be overtaken. The
environment of facilitation, diffusion, and deployment of resources
in effective and holistic way will create conducive atmosphere.
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