Source: Carbon Expo
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1xbMRr5l6k
Date: 05/12/2013
Event: Christiana Figueres addresses Carbon Expo Australasia
Attribution: Carbon Expo
People:
Christiana Figueres: Ladies and gentlemen, many thanks to Carbon Expo Australasia for inviting me to speak at this event. I'm glad to join you today, and appreciate being able to do so in this low-carbon manner [via pre-recorded video.]
This year has given us unprecedented clarity on the science of climate change. September's IPCC 5th Assessment Report is arguably the most rigorous scientific report ever written, and sheds light on the climate impacts already being felt across the world. There is no doubt that we are at unprecedented greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Our carbon budget is half spent. If we continue to meet energy needs as we have in the past, we will overshoot the internationally agreed goal to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius.
This is a clarion call for the global community to move towards a low-carbon world together, rapidly and with focused intent. Against this backdrop, COP19 just wrapped up in Warsaw, a few days ago. The conference was a step forward on a road to a new universal climate change agreement. COP19 saw marked progress on many fronts, and today I would like to focus on mitigation issues.
Governments accelerated the timetable to adopt a new agreement that is legally based and applicable to all, by 2015, to enter into force by 2020. Next March, elements of the global agreement will be presented so a draft agreement can be put on the table at COP20 in Lima. It is also significant that all governments have committed to intensify national preparations to determine contributions to the global effort. These are important national conversations, and how each country can help keep the world below the 2-degree warming.
Governments have agreed to make their contributions public by the first quarter of 2015. The eyes of the business community will be on governments' leadership and the commitments that create predictability and certainty needed for economic growth over the long term. In Warsaw, governments have also agreed to make pre-2020 mitigation efforts, including implementing policies, practices and technologies with high mitigation potential. These policies and practices must send a strong economic signal.
Pricing carbon, one of the best ways to achieve mitigation results, is being pursued by many countries in many different ways. This year, markets have come online in California and China, with Beijing's and Shanghai's first carbon permits trading just last week. And markets are under consideration throughout Asia-Pacific, in South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, to name just a few. Mexico and South Africa are taxing carbon, and Mexico just opened a voluntary carbon exchange. Costa Rica's voluntary carbon trading programme is now operational, and Indonesia just announced that they too will launch a voluntary carbon market.
A new International Energy Agency Report calculates that 33% of global emissions will be subject to some form of carbon pricing by 2035, up from only 8% last year. In recognition of the mitigating potential of markets, COP19 invited governments to voluntarily cancel CERs from the CDM, to help close the pre-2020 emissions gap. Markets are widely recognised by organisations such as the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank, as the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions. However, broad participation is key to cost-effectiveness, and including as many sectors as possible and extensive linking of markets enhances effectiveness and lowers cost.
Clearly, the wide variety of market options is integral to the overall effort to address climate change. But it is only one part of needed policy response. Effective climate response is multi-faceted, and must be purpose-built to the challenges each sector and each country faces. No one single instrument will be effective alone. And there are low-carbon policy options that need specific economic job-growth, national security, health and community well-being needs.
In the context of the changing landscape of Australia's climate policy, Australia and its trading partners remain committed to the global mitigation effort. Like all countries, Australia should engage in a national dialogue about the available climate policy options and determine the contributions that are appropriate for Australia, knowing that even strong and effective market-based response is well-supported across Asia and the world. This region is poised to lead. Australia has proven that their price on carbon is compatible with growth. China's proving that pricing carbon and renewable targets reduces emissions and attracts investment. The region's participation in the CDM represents 790 million tonnes of avoided CO2 emissions per year, in 33 countries. Asia-Pacific shows us that climate action is a path towards energy security, reduced pollution, increased resilience and a stable future.
I urge you, here at the Carbon Expo Australasia, to build on this leadership foundation, use your experience, capital and knowledge of market realities to bring your voice to the climate discussion and chart a low-carbon, high-resilient course forward. This generation must leave a legacy of clean and sustainable growth to coming generations, and markets are a big part of that. You can help make it happen. I am counting on you. But, more importantly, future generations are counting on you. Thank you.