Meeting Global Targets through International Cooperation

Since the time when the UNFCCC was conceived, the challenges of climate change have intensified in complexity. Global GHG emissions are at the top end of the IPCC projection range, and are accelerating. Developed countries are responsible for 70 per cent of all CO₂ accumulated in the atmosphere; the current emissions from developing countries are surpassing those of OECD countries by a margin and are expected to increase rapidly in the decades to come (IEA, 2008). To reduce poverty, developing countries need to speed up economic development; this is most likely to drive up energy consumption. Meanwhile, the impacts of climate change are being felt first and foremost by the poor. Technologies to reduce CO₂ emissions are available, but are not adequately applied, for reasons that have little to do with climate change.