Victoria's Green Matters - 23rd Nov 2011

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

The time is rapidly approaching for the next world summit on climate change in Durban. The International Energy Agency has already warned all nations that we are a long way away from avoiding dangerous climate change. The Kyoto Protocol inspired the world to take steps towards a carbon neutral energy system but now greater steps are required to consolidate and surpass this achievement.

The failure of the last summit in Copenhagen to bring nations together on a definite agreement to limit carbon emissions has left the world with ‘ voluntary agreements’. A voluntary framework will not keep climate change within the 2°C temperature rise limit that we need to insure us against the collapse of our food and water systems.

All major industrialised countries have adopted the ‘we must all do it or it’s no good’ approach, leading to most doing very little at all. The world has shown that international agreements are possible – the multilateral trade system, the international criminal court, the European single market for example – and this international agreement is the most vital because it affects us all.

We are in a time of global economic crisis and we are rapidly approaching the point of no return where climate change is concerned. Most countries have higher unemployment than is healthy for growing economies so why not agree to invest as much as we can in clean, renewable technologies of every kind around the world, creating jobs and limiting our carbon emissions.