Global Warming

Disaster is Prospect Global Warming

As world leaders gather in Washington this weekend, they would do well to remember that we face two disasters. The global financial disaster is most immediate; the more existential is climate change. The urgency of the first is no excuse for neglecting the second. On the contrary, it is an prospect to kill two birds [...]

As world leaders gather in Washington this weekend, they would do well to remember that we face two disasters. The global financial disaster is most immediate; the more existential is climate change. The urgency of the first is no excuse for neglecting the second. On the contrary, it is an prospect to kill two birds with one stone.

Let us make the case purely in terms of pragmatic economics. Global growth is slowing. Budgets are tightening. We will likely have fewer resources to tackle a lengthening agenda of global problems. What steps can we take, then, to create jobs and spur growth? How can we assure energy supplies at affordable prices? What must we do to insulate the global financial system from recurring shocks and cyclical bubbles, so that people of all nations can live in economic security?

The answer is to find common solutions to the grave challenges facing us. And when it comes to two of the most serious – the financial crisis and climate change – that answer is the green economy. Scientists agree: To address climate change, we need an energy revolution, a wholesale change in how we power our societies. Economists agree as well: The hottest growth industry in the world is renewable energy. That’s where the jobs of the future are already being created, and where much of the technological innovation is taking place that will usher in the next era of economic transformation.

Practical philosophers remind us that tomorrow begins today. Yes, this weekend’s financial summit in Washington is critical. But we face no less a test in early December, when nations gather in Poznan, Poland, for the next round of UN climate convention negotiations. The meeting marks the half-way point along the Bali road map, embraced in Indonesia last year. It aims to set the stage for a grand bargain in Copenhagen next December, when world leaders come together to negotiate an ambitious climate change agreement that all nations can embrace.

At Poznan, environment and climate ministers will meet for the first time to chart out a long-term vision of cooperative action. To reach a deal in Copenhagen, we need a clear work-plan with specific goals for reducing emissions and adapting to the adverse effects of climate change. We need an agreed institutional architecture, a serious commitment to an Adaptation Fund and, above all, a willingness of both developing and developed nations to do their part. Financing will be key. If developing nations lack the financial resources and technologies to “go green,” we cannot effectively fight climate change.