Led by California, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia who put out a joint climate change statement committing themselves to collaborate on policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All four set 2020 emission targets and agreed to collaborate on “mid-term greenhouse gas emissions reductions to maintain momentum toward 2050 targets” which they jointly will establish prior to the 2015 Conference in Paris. Joining these four are Vermont, Oregon, the city of Sao Paulo and 14 other jurisdictions who all agreed to band together to institute aggressive policies to limit global warming to less than 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) degrees, the target the IPCC has established as one that would keep the impact of a warming planet to a workable minimum.
Mexico’s Felipe Calderon, chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, spoke at the summit and reported that 2014 was the first time in four decades that global GDP grew 3% without growth in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The commission which he heads is focused on transitioning the world to a low-carbon future. Among its recommendations are:
Present at the climate summit event – Al Gore who framed his speech in three parts, “Must we change? Can we change? Will we change? and described daily news reports on the environment as “a nature hike through the Book of Revelation.”
Not present – the federal government of Canada whose spokesperson touted the government’s success to date in reducing GHGs without putting a price on carbon which the government describes as a job killer. Of course, the spokesperson’s position is far from the truth. Canada’s GHGs have flat-lined rather than fallen, and are expected to rise over the next decade as more oil sands capacity comes online. Only the sub-jurisdictions – Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia have seen emissions drop and they are the ones who are implementing a price on carbon.
