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Since the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in late 1997, ways to implement it have been at the top of the climate change agenda. This issue of Developing Ideas looks at various methods for financing both greenhouse gas mitigation and necessary adaptation measures. It also examines the issue of who should pay and tensions that exist between richer nations— the major emitters of greenhouse gases—and poorer countries that will have to deal with the detrimental effects of climate change. The first article, Paying the Climate Change Piper, gives an overview of the common yet differentiated responsibility for climate change and some of the roles and responsibilities of countries and the Global Environment Facility, the UN agency responsible for funding climate change projects. The second article describes the idea of per capita emission rights. Here, two Indian researchers argue that since the atmosphere is a global resource, every citizen of planet Earth should have an equal entitlement to greenhouse gas emissions. Two incentives for action on climate change sketched out in the Kyoto Protocol and under discussion in the Buenos Aires talks are investigated in the third article, Kyoto Mechanisms. The fourth article, Redirecting $$$ to Climate Change, examines the need to end perverse subsidies and corruption to free-up funds for climate change projects, especially given the dwindling dollars going to official development assistance and lack of private investment in many of the poorer countries. The last article looks at the notion of a global environmental tax, an idea that is gaining ground given recent developments in the EU and their efforts to implement a carbon tax. In "Trend Watch" this issue of Developing Ideas concludes with a recap of the recent Buenos Aires negotiations on climate change. Our writer for this issue is Ian Darragh, an accomplished journalist and editor who has written extensively on environmental issues. Ian lives and works in Ottawa, Canada. Climate change is a controversial and complex topic. Even though it is now generally accepted that human activity is affecting climate and that everyone bears some level of responsibility, it is unclear how we can collectively change our actions. We hope this issue of Developing Ideas will bring some clarity to the discussion. Managing Editor, |
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