Sustainable Low-Carbon Asia:

How can it change the post-2012 climate negotiations?

Presented at the Poznan International Fair, Poznan, Poland, on Monday 8 December 2008

How can strategies for building Low-Carbon Societies (LCS) in Asia contribute to solving the global climate crisis and "change the game" for post-2012 climate negotiations? This session presented visions and concrete roadmaps for developing LCS in Asian countries including Japan, China, and India and examined potential solutions for strengthening participation from Asia in the post-Kyoto agreement.

Discussion points

- How can we design visions and roadmaps towards a sustainable low-carbon Asia?

- How can we structure a framework, mechanism, and rules to realize sustainable low-carbon Asia?

- How can we integrate a long-term strategy and short-term action into the post-2012 agreement?

Introduction

IPCC AR4 indicates that we need drastic GHG emissions reductions (50% by 2050) to avoid dangerous climate change. However, an effective global response is still far from guaranteed. Asia contains many of the world’s largest and fastest growing emitters, and the most vulnerable poor countries. It is crucial that we design and realize a “Sustainable Low-Carbon Asia” to achieve our ultimate climate change goals.

Many countries in Asia are beginning to pursue sustainable and low-carbon development as top domestic political priorities above growth at all costs. However there are no clear middle or long-term visions, and roadmaps to achieving a “Sustainable Low-Carbon Asia”. This makes it difficult to avoid the type of high energy locked -in type development observed in developed countries. How can scientific activities help develop low-carbon scenarios and accelerate leap-frog development in Asian countries?

Asian countries have a particularly important role to play in negotiating and implementing the post-2012 agreement. As many Asian countries argue, under the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities, their right to economic development is non-negotiable and must be integrated into any global agreement. How can the post-2012 agreement support these strategies, and how can they contribute substantially to global greenhouse gas reductions?

This session examined potential strategies for a more effective pursuit of sustainable, low-carbon development in Asian countries. We hope that increased understanding of these issues will allow Asian countries to build cooperation within the region and with the rest of the world in pursuit of an effective solution to the dual problems of global climate change and economic development.

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Speakers

Shuzo Nishioka (NIES) Mikiko Kainuma (NIES), Junichi Fujino (NIES), Kejun Jiang (ERI, China) and P.R. Shukla (IIM, India)

Andrew Stevenson (Civic Exchange), Tariq Banuri (Division for Sustainable Development, United Nations) and Cornie Huizenga (Clean Air Initiative – Asia)

Titus Alexander (Director, AGCC) and Tom Spencer (Director, AGCC; Executive Director, European Centre for Public Affairs; Vice-Chairman, the Institute for Environmental Security)

Raekwon Chung (Climate Change Ambassador, Republic of Korea)

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Our partners

National Institute for Environmental

Studies

NIES was established in 1974 in the scientifically-oriented Tsukuba, near Tokyo and has played a major role in environmental research in Japan. NIES conducts multidisciplinary environmental studies in natural, social and human sciences. NIES, in collaboration with institutes in ERI/China, IIM/India, AIT/Thailand, and others has jointly developed a large-scale computer simulation model called AIM (Asia-Pacific Integrated Model) to assess climate policy options. AIM developed the IPCC SRES/A1B marker scenario. The model has been widely used for policy studies and its results have been presented in various environmental assessments such as IPCC/SRES UNEP/GEO, ECO-Asia, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Japan Low-Carbon Society (LCS) Scenario, Japan - UK Joint Research Project “Developing visions for a Low-Carbon Society through sustainable development”, and the IPCC new scenarios for AR5.
Contact: Junich Fujino

Civic Exchange

Civic Exchange is a Hong Kong-based non-profit public policy think tank that was established in October of 2000. It is an independent organization that has access to policymakers, officials, businesses, media, and NGOs—reaching across sectors and borders. Civic Exchange has solid experience in many areas, including air quality, energy, the environment, urban planning, and climate change research, as well as economics and governance issues. Recent work in these areas includes studying Asian climate change negotiations, green buildings, shipping-related air pollution, and the health impacts of air pollution in southern China, and books analyzing the changes in Hong Kong’s environmental and air quality policy since 1997. Civic Exchange has also hosted a series of forums on the relationship between energy policy, air quality, buildings and climate change.
Contact: Andrew Stevenson

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