UK Prime Minister calls for a global carbon trading network to fight climate change

20 July 2009

Gordon Brown to fight climate change with carbon trading scheme

The report highlights that without a global system for carbon trading, the ability of countries to avoid dangerous climate change will be limited and the costs of action increased.

The report comes in the wake of Gordon Brown’s recent proposal on how developed and developing countries can agree new ways to pay for tackling climate change. He called for countries to work together on a global figure of $100bn a year needed by 2020 to help developing countries reduce their emissions, tackle deforestation and adapt to the climate change already being experienced. Carbon markets are expected to play a significant role, although domestic action will be required to work alongside.

The Global Carbon Trading report, by the Prime Minister’s special representative on carbon trading, Mark Lazarowicz, says the UK Government is committed to meeting its required 34 per cent cut in emissions by 2020 through domestic action alone, apart from emissions covered under the EU Emissions Trading System where limits on offsetting are set at EU level.

Lazarowicz said, ‘Climate change is an international threat that needs international action. The evidence shows that global carbon trading can deliver substantial cuts in greenhouse gases rapidly and cost-effectively. Cap and trade should be combined with targeted regulation, taxation and public finance for comprehensive action. This report proposes action in developed countries at two levels – ambitious national targets and a network of linked cap and trade systems for emitters.’

The report concludes that cap and trade systems can provide ambitious reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. However, the system will need to act alongside a range of other targeted policies such as feed-in tariffs to ensure it’s effective. Cap and trade systems currently operate or are planned in over 35 countries across the developed world and will need to be aligned to create a global system. Linking the EU and a possible US federal system by 2015 would be ambitious, the report admits, but achievable.

Finally, scaled-up mechanisms for supporting developing countries to cut emissions are needed that are more efficient and equitable than the current Clean Development Mechanism. These should be designed to provide substantial real emissions reductions that go beyond offsetting and deliver financial flows to the developing world. Using sectoral trading rather than the CDM could reduce the global cost of emission cuts financed through carbon trading by around 50 per cent, enabling developed countries to make deeper emissions cuts.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown added, ‘Developing the global carbon market is vital if we’re to succeed in helping the world avoid dangerous climate change. The carbon market can deliver a substantial part of the $100 billion a year needed by 2020 to help developing countries reduce their emissions, tackle deforestation and adapt to the climate change already being experienced.

‘So I very much welcome Mark Lazarowicz’s report which shows that with the right reforms and participation, global carbon trading – alongside strong domestic effort – can help the world meet the tough emissions reduction targets as demanded by the science.’

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: climate change, energy efficiency

This story was published on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Europe, energy efficiency, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply