Climate Strategies Press Release: Climate experts call for unified system to measure emissions targets
- Emissions risk 'falling through cracks' under current system
As countries prepare to submit their commitments to cutting carbon emissions this Sunday as set out in the Copenhagen Accord, top climate academics have released a report calling for a common framework for measuring total emissions.
The international study convened by Climate Strategies, a network of international climate academics hosted at the University of Cambridge, concludes that current targets being put on the table cannot be compared because they reflect radically different ways of counting emissions. A patchwork of different accounting approaches could also make it much harder for international business to operate effectively in cutting emissions across national borders.
The paper, ‘Interpreting Emission Pledges: the need for a Common Accounting Framework’ shows the huge potential for confusion. For example, the US Waxman-Markey bill could lead to overall emission savings in 2020 by anywhere from 2-22% below 1990 levels, or 14-32% below 2005 levels, according to the research - bigger than its headline number (which is just below 1990 levels or 17% below 2005 levels).
Professor Michael Grubb, Chair of Climate Strategies, said:
“It is without a doubt a step in the right direction that countries around the world are putting forward their national 2020 carbon reduction targets. However, it is not always clear what they actually mean in ways that can be compared. The pledges offered by countries use different base years, measure different greenhouse gases and set out different approaches to the use of offsets and sequestration methods. We urgently need a common basis which could allow national offers to be compared. A common accounting system would allow pledges to be translated into their full, precise and real effects, and allow exchanges between different jurisdictions on a secure basis. This would also be much better for business, to know that a tonne of carbon saved meant the same thing the world over”.
Antonia Baker, lead author of the study said:
“In the run up to Copenhagen, there were numerous pledges made by national governments setting out their targets after the current Kyoto targets expire in 2012. Countries such as Australia are including emission changes from land use - deforestation and reforestation – within their pledges and the US adds land-use related measures outside of their core target. The system is in urgent need of a common set of standards and it will become even more important that emissions reduction commitments have ‘carbon clarity’ to ensure comparability and environmental effectiveness.”
New research points to scale of the problem http://climatestrategies.org/our-reports/category/59/237.html
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About Climate Strategies
Climate Strategies aims to assist governments in solving the collective action problem of climate change. It connects leading applied research on international climate change issues to the policy process and to public debate, raising the quality and coherence of advice provided on policy formation.
We convene international groups of experts to provide rigorous, fact-based and independent assessment on international climate change policy. To effectively communicate insights into climate change policy, Climate Strategies works with decision-makers in government and business, particularly, but not restricted to, the countries of the European Union and EU institutions.
