Grenelle Environment 2009 has been in preparation for more than two years. The closing conference will take place in Copenhagen, from the 7th to the 18th of December 2009. Let’s go back to the previous events before focusing on this international conference.
Faced with climatic problems, many international negotiations helped to set up agreements in order to gradually decrease gas emissions for greenhouse effect.
All started in 1992, the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro joined 192 countries to tackle the question of climate change. This meeting then led to the signature of the Tallies Convention of the United Nations on Climate change (CCNUCC), which recognizes the existence of climate change due to human origin. The objective of the signatory countries is to stabilize gas concentrations for greenhouse effect (GES) in the atmosphere.
The Kyoto protocol was made following the Convention of 1992. Opened with 189 countries, it was ratified by 184 countries in 2009. However it contained engagement only for 38 industrialized countries, with an average reduction objective of 5.2% compared to the six gas emissions for greenhouse effect between 2008 and 2012.
In 2007, the GIEC, intergovernmental group of experts on climate evolution, gave its 4th report. The experts of the GIEC estimated that in order to limit the risks for the planet, it was necessary to limit the increase in temperature to 2°C, which requires to stabilize the world emissions of GES compared to their level in 1990 from here to 2020 at the latest, before reducing them half before 2050.
The same year, 192 countries adopted “Bali roadmap”, at the time of the Conference of Bali, which established a work program in order to lead to a new international agreement in Copenhagen 2009.
Today, the international community will have to sign a new pact to fight against climate warming. This is why Grenelle Environment, baptized “bill of national engagement for the environment”, to be set up at Copenhagen, in Denmark, at the end of 2009. The Goal of Copenhagen is to achieve a world agreement and common goals in 2009 for the reduction of gas emissions to greenhouse effect after 2012, when the Kyoto protocol expires.
However, it should not be forgotten that the adoption of the Kyoto protocol had required two additional conferences in order to lead to an agreement. One of them does not have to expect an entirely detailed agreement on the long run for Copenhagen in 2009.
The Copenhagen conference is an international meeting, organized by the UNO. There are three principles objectives which are:
- To intensify the international efforts to fight the climatic change.
- To create a new ambitious multilateral agreement.
- To define a shared vision of the fight against climatic change and to define a global long term objective for the reduction of greenhouse effect gas emission.
This conference will invite the government representatives and the technical delegations of the 192 countries which have ratified the Convention of United Nations about climatic change (CCNUCC), the state observer representatives, and the organizations and the accredited observers. About 15 000 persons are expected for the conference. The European Union will have just one voice, the country which chairs the European Union Council when the meeting will take place: it will be Sweden. The EU has defined a common proposal after the Poznan conference, in December 2008.
At Grenelle Environment in Copenhagen, many questions will be tackled and a new international agreement against the climate change will have to be found.
Charlène, programme SUP, 3ème année
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