Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
services that emit a lot of greenhouse gases in their production,
avoiding deforestation, peat drainage and other land management
activities that increase emissions and using lower-carbon techniques
for power or heat generation and transport. Of course, the above
can only be fully realised if the international community works
together. If only one country acted then it would be at an eco-
nomic disadvantage while the climate system would have minimal
benefit. There have been attempts at getting the international com-
munity to sign up to legally binding agreements and the 1997
Kyoto Protocol was ratified by 175 countries (but not by major
emitters such as USA, India and China). The commitments added
up to a total cut in greenhouse gas emissions of 5.2 per cent by
2012 from 1990 levels. Only a few countries have met their targets
and unfortunately a 5.2 per cent reduction is inadequate to prevent
'strong' global warming. The December 2009 Copenhagen summit
sought to get agreements from more countries for tougher reduc-
tions but these talks failed to reach an agreement.
If countries are to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions then
economists such as Nicholas Stern have argued that there should
be an appropriate common global price put on carbon. This is
why you may have heard the term 'carbon trading'. Those who
are polluting are causing consequences for others who will have
to pay the cost. Therefore, it is argued that the polluters should
pay this cost. The purpose of this would be to encourage people
to move to low carbon technology and be more efficient about
the carbon they use. It may also help pay for investment in further
mitigation strategies. Such strategies might include providing
better insulation for homes so that less energy is wasted, or
moving to more wind, wave or nuclear energy generation
methods. Other strategies include capturing carbon from power
stations and other industrial plants and pumping it into natural
underground gas stores or disused oil wells. This might sound
fanciful but it is really taking place. There are hundreds of
planned sites across the world and several operation sites for
carbon capture and storage such as at locations in the North Sea,
at In Salah in the Algerian central Sahara or the Lacq gas process-
ing plant, south-west France. Scientifically, there are also pros-
pects of enhancing the strength of the global carbon sinks in order
to slow down the rate of climate warming. Planting more forest
