Emission Targets: the Best Strategy?

With the country still reeling amid the devastating aftermath of the May 12 earthquake, it’s difficult to focus on China’s recent gains. However, as the Foreign Policy blog reported, China has been the biggest beneficiary of the Kyoto Protocol, having received billions of dollars in investments in low-carbon technology. Under the protocol, the blog explains,

“developed countries can meet their carbon targets partly by investing in emissions-reduction projects in the developing world. And China…produces a great deal of hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs, greenhouse gases produced as a byproduct of manufacturing refrigerants. HFCs are roughly 11,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide, so investing in relatively cheap HFC projects in China gives you a lot of bang for your carbon credit buck.”

As a result, in 2007, 73 percent of the emissions credit projects implemented under Kyoto were based in China. Africa, however, was only able to attract five percent of the projects, in spite of its great need for foreign investment, suggesting that the focus on emission reduction targets might be too narrow.

As the Business of Green blog pointed out, the recent G8 call to halve global carbon emissions by the year 2050 seems to be a reiteration of what the G8 already considered last year, “and, if anything, it highlights just how long it may take to put concrete targets in place.” The two blogs indicate that the carbon target talks might not be enough to both stave off global warming and help those countries already feeling the negative effects of climate change. Combating climate change certainly requires a cooperative, globally-conscious strategy and presents major challenges to developed and developing nations alike.