Main focus of Monday, December 7, 2009

Two weeks of saving the climate

Every second species could die out, millions of people could be left homeless and entire countries may sink into the sea. To prevent all this 192 states convene today, Monday, for the climate summit in Copenhagen. Expectations are running high, with hopes for a new, climate-friendly world order.

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

To mark the begin of the climate negotiations in Copenhagen 56 newspapers around the world, including The Guardian, have called on political leaders to take action. They demand above all agreement as to how the costs of fighting global warming are to be distributed: "Social justice demands that the industrialised world digs deep into its pockets and pledges cash to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, and clean technologies to enable them to grow economically without growing their emissions. The architecture of a future treaty must also be pinned down - with rigorous multilateral monitoring, fair rewards for protecting forests, and the credible assessment of 'exported emissions' so that the burden can eventually be more equitably shared between those who produce polluting products and those who consume them. ... The transformation will be costly, but many times less than the bill for bailing out global finance - and far less costly than the consequences of doing nothing." (07/12/2009)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Economic Policy, » Denmark, » Global

Der Standard - Austria

The key objectives of the UN summit in Copenhagen are to reach a fair deal for all concerned and to re-establish the credibility of all participants, writes the daily Der Standard: "A plan with concrete specifications for who must cut back how much in which areas is long overdue. The biggest climate offender in Austria is individual traffic. Consequently the public transport system must be expanded - for example the yearly train pass people have been discussing for so long must become reality. Copenhagen will only be a success if the three targets - concrete reduction agreements, a binding legal accord and financial commitments - are reached. Then for these to be implemented it will be necessary to break down climate protection into small, practicable steps. Those whose emissions have been high until now must contribute more. This isn't only about justice, it's also about a new world order - and the credibility of each and every one of us." (05/12/2009)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Austria, » Global
All available articles from » Alexandra Föderl-Schmid

Delo - Slovenia

The daily Delo predicts that all that will be agreed at the Copenhagen climate summit is to continue negotiations and what the targets are. But the paper notes that an agreement among a majority of countries would have many positive consequences: "If uniform rules were stipulated no country would be allowed to plunder the seas excessively, burn down forests or poison rivers. We've already dealt with the alcoholics and the smokers so why not start imposing restrictions on drivers? Fossil fuel reserves are limited, and for the most part they are in countries that are not regarded as all too reliable. Making greater use of renewable energy sources would reduce our dependence on these countries and would also make the huge pipelines unnecessary. … And if one and a half billion people start looking for green trees and clean water no one will be able to dominate the situation."  (07/12/2009)

» more information (external link, Slovenian)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Environmental Policy, » Global
All available articles from » Borut Tavcar

De Volkskrant - Netherlands

Insuring ourselves against climate change is far less costly than bailing out faulty banks, writes columnist Bert Wagendorp in the daily De Volkskrant: "It can freeze, and it can thaw, that's the nature of things. ... In normal times we insure ourselves against imponderabilities, and the same goes here. With a yearly premium of one percent of the gross global product - a fifth of what was spent rescuing the world's banks last year - we can prevent potential catastrophes caused by global warming. If we fail to insure ourselves and things take a turn for the worse the costs will be many times higher. The thing to do in Copenhagen is to agree on who should pay the premiums. If we can we'll be off and running, and the whole question of who believes what will be purely academic." (07/12/2009)

» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Environmental Policy, » Global
All available articles from » Bert Wagendorp

Kathimerini - Greece

In the Sunday edition of Kathimerini Stavros Dimas, EU Commissioner for the Environment, stresses the importance of an international agreement being signed in Copenhagen: "Judging by the present pace of climate change, in a couple of decades it will no longer be reversible. To prevent this catastrophic scenario an … internationally fair agreement that is based on scientific findings and is legally binding must be signed. With the ambitious goals … it has set itself and also the measures it has already implemented to reach those goals the EU has taken on a pioneering international role. … It has committed itself to reducing emissions by 2020 by 30 percent compared to 1990 levels, provided the other developed nations do the same. … By 2050 it wants to cut emissions by between 80 and 95 percent." (06/12/2009)

» full article (external link, Greek)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Environmental Policy, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Stavros Dimas

» To the complete press review of Monday, December 7, 2009