Bonn With Climate Vision

The ongoing climate negotiation in Bonn, Germany is imposing far reaching impacts upon global climate movements. So far, eye-catching transformative commitments among countries ahead of the conference of parties COP 21, in Paris later this year is engaging and thrilling. Cutting carbon emissions, an agenda on the top of the discussions, being one major contributor to global rising temperatures, is witnessing ambitious targets towards the fulfillment of the required Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) expected by October 2015.

It's becoming widely hoped that these talks will see forest for the trees as negotiators are becoming more and more aware about the importance of having a long term goal in comparison with short term goals and targets. Inspiringly, with ambitious targets of cooling the globe to 2 degrees Celsius by 2050, much shift is anticipated in the areas of technology for production and transportation.

The birth of these farsighted expectations indicates the gravity with which global threats of climate change has become rampant and obvious. Already firmly jotted is a sad fact that “climate change poses the worst health risk of the 21 century”, according to World Medical Association experts. While the dream to limit global warming as spelt out in the Copenhagen Accord remains alive in the conference halls, the vision of every individual country will remain exceptionally significant in the realization of this big vision; a unity of effort is principal as global warming needs global responsibility.

However, some counties may attempt to dodge full responsibility and maintain a ‘hardliner’ course especially if the going seems tougher and requires much sacrifices, and try as much as possible to do the least. Under this, it is advisable that the UNFCC takes actions to ensure all countries are committed to their agreements. Seemingly, without a degree of such force and authority, the global public will live to see especially developing countries and small negotiators forfeit the terms of these very agreements and as they fail to reach their goals, the whole of the globe suffers. Fore warned…

If that sounds brand new from a train of well engineered pessimistic attitudes, take into account the current responses: majority of African countries haven’t yet declared how they intend to contribute to reduce the impacts of climate change despite the fact that these poor countries are the most inundated by the impacts of climate change and notwithstanding the fact that Bonn negotiation is delivering the needed stimuli in preparing them towards the December 2015 climate agreement in France.

Born central to the proposal of saving the planet is Decarbonisation of which a lot of countries have indeed expressed their support with 60 of them foreseeing a carbon free society. It’s upon such a leaning that Britain plans to put 3000 electric powered cars in the roads by 2018, as Russia long embarked on the production of solar powered vehicles. More inspiringly, developing countries like Uganda has campaigns centered in the production of solar and electric cars by 2018. Her neighbor Kenya derives a total of energy production from 1% of renewable energy sources such as wind.

A campaign to blacklist fossil fuel investments is another reality spreading globally as climate throngs intensify campaigns against oil, gas, and coal. And while legislation in the U.S. Congress addressing climate change seems as remote as ever, in the arena of anti pollution literature, the anti-fossil fuel movement is building support at a breakneck pace. The proof of this growing success of the divestment movement can be gleaned from the oil and gas industry itself, which for stance launched a public relations blitz in mid-February attacking divestment.

Funded by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the “Divestment Facts” campaign sought to undermine the rationale for divestment. The existence of such a campaign suggests that oil and gas companies are beginning to see divestment threat to wealth. Ever heard of wealth-health dilemma…?... The winner is key. TOTAL and one of the biggest energy investors in Africa is cutting short by diversifying a course towards other renewable energy market, including in solar panels. And the rest should follow suit or suitable loss (in the coming future) shall follow their accounts.

Then it is not really anti fossils as we might think, but rather pro-life. Because it is estimated that 0.3 million people die annually world-wide from societal-imposed, fossil fuel-based electricity generation pollutants (carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates, volatile organics and heavy metals, notably mercury) and 170,000 people die annually world-wide from coal. Thinkable, this is enough to warrant the current climate change campaigns against burning fuels.

The European Union and many scientific organizations have concluded that comprehending terrible threats upon humanity as a result of global warming will require limiting global average warming to a stated threshold of 2 degrees Celsius, that if exceeded, negative impacts, Bonn negotiators see, will become more severe, widespread, and irreversible, and hence dangerous tipping points may be crossed.

Boaz Opio, Kampala, Uganda

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