Developing Nations the Key Factor to a Global Climate Change Deal

From December 12 to December 18 the 192 members of the United Nations will convene in Copenhagen, Denmark to arrive to an agreement on climate change, an agreement that will take in effect in the year 2012. Ambitious goals are to be made and many will look to the United States to take a leading role. However, a focus should be turned to developing nations.

The agreed stabilization levels of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent - a measurement to account for other green house gases with CO2 as its benchmark) will likely be set at 550 ppm. Currently the atmosphere contains 385 ppm of CO2, with an additional 50 ppm of CO2e. Rich nations have taken the lead in outputting carbon emissions and are mostly responsible for this 53% increase in the atmosphere compared to pre-industrial levels (280 ppm). Considering much of the carbon production was carried out by only a fraction of the world's population it becomes an alarming wake up call to future possibilities of business as usually while also arousing a discussion of injustice. The question will arise: why should the nations that had little to no part of the carbon emissions that cause climate change agree to any deals that will place them on a path of development that is likely to be more costly and possibly inefficient to their growth?

Developed nations, having used sources of dirty energy to become rich, will in effect be asking developing nations not to follow the same path. Other paths of development can be pricey such as renewable energy implementation, which is currently very expensive on a large scale. Fossil fuels such as coal may actually be abundant locally, as in the case of India and China which will be using coal for the next 30 years to produce 80% of their electricity needs. Developing nations will need a convincing and persuasive argument to justify potentially high costs.

To mitigate costs, the carbon trading scheme provides a reasonable framework for rich nations to compensate their carbon footprint by placing a monetary amount on carbon emissions. By turning carbon into a currency, rich countries can compensate by paying developing nations money to improve energy efficiency and lower emissions, which benefits us all.A framework for trading isn't the complete solution; Just because a country has money does not mean they have access to the appropriate means to spend it.Nations will require collaboration to spend on and progress green technology.

It is clear, the members of the United Nations have their hands full. Climate change will be addressed and a global deal will have to be made. Rich nations will have to take account of their mistakes and poor nations will need help to better learn not to repeat errors of the past while adopting and improving cleaner technology. Solar for Africa, clean coal for China and India, and wind power wherever there is wind. Ideally, power to all. Ideally, clean.

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