Vision gap in Poznan

IPS: The United Nations climate change conference ended on a bitter note in the early hours of Saturday. The developing and emerging economies accused the industrialised nations of "callousness" and a "vision gap" that were reflected in their rejection of a key deal that would enable the poor states to cope with global warming.

The deal at issue is a special fund established to finance concrete projects and programmes aimed at adapting to climate change in developing countries. The Fund is to be fed essentially with a share of proceeds from clean development mechanism (CDM) project activities. The share of proceeds amounts to 2 percent of certified emission reductions (CERs) issued for a CDM project activity.

…When the special financing facility called the Adaptation Fund aimed at helping developing countries take to adaptation measures came up for discussion at the Poznan conference on Dec. 11, delegates of several countries representing diverse groupings at the UN argued that the special levy of 2 percent on CERs should be increased to 3 percent. This would provide additional money for the current 60 million dollar fund that helps poor countries protect themselves against floods, drought and storms. While the industrial nations admitted that billions of dollars are needed for the challenging task, they did not agree to increase from two to three the percentage of levy from the carbon market.

…Ghosh said the Article 9 review, which was looking at the increase of the levy from two to three percent, "fell apart for one, and one reason only; that is the refusal of some parties (countries) to experience the least loss of profits from trading in carbon. ...

Entrance of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski to Poznań), by January Suchodolski (1797-1875)