International NGO questions utility of COP “Talkfests”

Milan – After nine COPs of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), the world is not a better place, says an international NGO. Indeed, we are worse off because of the emphasis that has been placed on cost-ineffective plans such as the Kyoto Protocol discussions, while cost-effective solutions to climate change have been largely ignored.

International Policy Network, a global think tank based in London, calls on the parties to the FCCC to re-evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the COP meetings and the FCCC bureaucracy itself.

For the past six years, the FCCC has overseen the development of the Kyoto Protocol. At the end of COP-9, Kyoto has still not entered into force globally because it is perceived by some Parties to be too costly.

“Frankly, these COP talkfests have been largely counterproductive,” says Julian Morris, Director of International Policy Network and Visiting
Professor at the University of Buckingham. “They have not sought to identify and implement the most cost-effective ways to achieve the goals of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. We know these exist and have been documented. It is incumbent on ministers and parties to identify these more cost-effective solutions before the next COP,” he concluded today at the end of COP-9.

The FCCC and UNEP bureaucrats have claimed at COP-9 that Kyoto-style climate control policies will not harm economic growth. Yet for European Countries who are implementing Kyoto in the next ten years, numerous studies by internationally respected economists have showed that the treaty will have a negative impact on human wellbeing, driving up the cost of energy and other goods, reducing economic growth and causing hundreds of thousands of job losses. Kyoto-style commitments after 2012 (not yet negotiated) would cause even further harm to European countries, who already suffer from lack of competitiveness and stagnant economic growth.

“We call on ministers and governments to evaluate alternatives to Kyoto, including a greater emphasis on adaptation, which would have immediate
benefits for the world’s poor, and would be far more cost-effective than climate control,” commented Kendra Okonski, IPN’s Director of Sustainable
Development. “By increasing the resilience of poor countries to climate in general, we will benefit both people now and in the future,” she said.

Cost-effective measures to address climate change could include:

• Strengthening the institutions that drive economic growth and technological change, both in poor and wealthy countries, to enhance societies' abilities to cope not only with climate change, but adversity in general, regardless of its cause.
• Eliminating regulations that discourage economic growth and sustainable use of resources, especially in poor countries, to ensure that individuals, communities and businesses have incentives to achieve sustainable development.
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• Take no-regrets actions, such as eliminating subsidies to producers and consumers, opening trade, encouraging adoption of more efficient technologies in India and China, and supporting blue-skies research into new technologies by companies.
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• Invest in the study and understanding of the earth's climate, how humanity impacts the climate, and how climate change may affect humanity and the environment.

International Policy Network (www.policynetwork.net) is a London-based NGO and think tank.