Summary

by Andrea
(Colombia)

Original Text: SUMMARY

Climate Change mitigation demands alternative production to reduce the anthropogenic contribution of GHG’s into the atmosphere. The carbon market, following the United Nations Climate Change Convention guidelines, was created to open a market approach alternative in order to industrial countries accomplish with their reduction targets. Also, carbon markets allow other countries find on carbon offset projects options for technology transfer and conservation of natural resources. However, the gap between the developing and developed nations keeps as a big barrier for integrating efficiently the UNFCC principles worldwide. Meanwhile, developing nations are still dreaming with developed life style following business as usual models and risking their ecological reserves. The ecological footprint in industrialized nations can be ten times higher than in some African or Asian countries. Consequently, the present ecological capital can not support, under the traditional business approach, neither economical growing of developed nations nor developing nations. Presently, the global inequity is unresolved and the carbon market is a big opportunity for developing countries, and especially for South America, establishing a sustainable model. Trading carbon emission permissions should be designed with an approach but not the traditional market, and include more innovative and sustainable principles. The carbon market requires evaluating his final goal (reduction of CO2 emissions) and be implemented in a fair win-win scenario. The inclusion of the historical ecological debt can also introduce more fairness and integrity to the implementation of this mechanism. This paper explores the present market approach of the carbon market implemented, the contradiction between the operative scheme and the nature of the mechanism, and the future alternatives integrating South America more efficiently and looking for generating better equitable and real benefits.

INTRODUCTION

The ecological footprint shows the present inequitable distribution of the benefits offered by the planet’s resources, and creating a barrier for developing nations reach better life conditions. Climate Change demonstrated the lost of the planet’s resilience and unbalance released by the last century development; industrialized nations are the main responsible of the global warming while developing ones are more vulnerable to the main consequences. Traditional economical growing has failed to drive less privileged countries into sustainable and developed conditions. Global market is composed by different schemes from regulatory to voluntary mechanisms. Last years it is presenting tremendous growth, but with strong flow in prices, while faces uncertainty about what can happen after the first commitment period to finish in 2012. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established certain principles for the carbon market in order to promote reductions in GHG emissions. Present assessment of carbon markets keeps based on economical tools but the impact on technology transfer and emission reductions is barely established. A future climate change deal should include better regulations aimed to diversify the scope and regional sources of carbon credits, supporting sustainable development in developing regions, and be capable to promote mitigation and adaptation actions. Integral principles within carbon market are required for this accomplishes with the UNFCCC principles. This paper describes the gap between developed and developing countries and analyses the opportunities and barrier for South America to participate efficiently in the global carbon market.

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Revised Text:

Climate Change mitigation demands alternative production to reduce the anthropogenic contribution of GHG’s into the atmosphere.

The carbon market, following the United Nations Climate Change Convention guidelines, was created to open a market approach alternative for industrial countries to accomplish their reduction targets. Also, carbon markets allow other countries to find carbon offset project options for technology transfer and conservation of natural resources.

However, the gap between the developing and developed nations remains a big barrier for integrating the UNFCC principles efficiently worldwide.

Meanwhile, developing nations are still dreaming of a developed life style following "business as usual" models and risking their ecological reserves. The ecological footprint of industrialized nations can be ten times higher than that in some African or Asian countries.

Consequently, the present ecological capital can not support, under the traditional business approach, either economical growth of developed nations or developing nations. Currently, the global inequity is unresolved and the carbon market is a big opportunity for developing countries, especially in South America, to establish a sustainable model. Trading carbon emission permissions should be designed with a new approach, not the traditional market, and should include more innovative and sustainable principles. The carbon market requires evaluating the final goal (reduction of CO2 emissions) and implementation in a fair, win-win, scenario.

The inclusion of the historical ecological debt can also introduce more fairness and integrity to the implementation of this mechanism. This paper explores the present market approach of the carbon market now implemented, the contradictions between the operative scheme and the nature of the mechanism, and the future alternatives for integrating South America more efficiently and looks to generating more equitable and real benefits.

INTRODUCTION

The ecological footprint shows the present inequitable distribution of the benefits offered by the planet’s resources, and creates a barrier for developing nations reaching better life conditions. Climate Change demonstrated the loss of the planet’s resilience and the imbalance created by the last century's development. Industrialized nations are mainly responsible for the global warming while developing ones are more vulnerable to the main consequences. Traditional economic growth has failed to drive less privileged countries into sustainable and developed conditions. The global market is composed of different schemes, from regulatory to voluntary mechanisms. In the last few years it has been presenting tremendous growth, but with the strong flow in prices, faces uncertainty about what can happen after the first commitment period finishes in 2012.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established certain principles for the carbon market in order to promote reductions in GHG emissions. Present assessments of carbon markets are based on economic tools but the impact on technology transfer and emission reductions is barely established.

A future climate change deal should include better regulations aimed at diversifying the scope and regional sources of carbon credits, supporting sustainable development in developing regions, and be capable of promoting mitigation and adaptation actions. Integral principles within the carbon market are required for this to be accomplished with the UNFCCC principles. This paper describes the gap between developed and developing countries and analyzes the opportunities and barriers to South America in participating efficiently in the global carbon market.

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