It’s no secret: international efforts to curb global warming continue to divide Asia and Europe.
European and Asian governments did not see eye to eye at the climate-change summit held in Copenhagen last December, and as preparations intensify for another international meeting on global warming – this time in Cancun, Mexico - at the end of the year, prospects for a credible and enforceable agreement remain elusive.
Europeans are demanding a legally binding global deal on curbing carbon dioxide emissions while key Asian nations, including China and India, oppose any move which they fear could slowdown economic growth and development.
Curbing greenhouse emissions is arguably the world’s key global governance challenge. And the results of the Copenhagen summit, namely a voluntary goal of limiting warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and a pledge from rich countries to give about 25 billion euros in aid from 2010 to 2012, are clearly not ambitious enough.
For all their differences and public spats, however, Asian and European governments face a shared challenge: keeping carbon emissions as low as possible to prevent further environmental damage while, at the same time, creating the growth necessary to raise living standards.
It is imperative therefore to shift the focus from confrontation on achieving climate change targets to cooperation on developing a low-carbon economy. Such collaboration could be based on crafting new economic, technological, and social systems of production and consumption which allow for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining economic and social development.
The question will figure high on the agenda of the eighth ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) summit in Brussels on October 4-5.
Finding common ground within ASEM on the development and implementation of low-carbon growth strategies is not difficult. After all, both regions are tackling climate change and have made significant commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
EU governments are committed to a 20 per cent reduction in 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels by 2020 and have said they are willing to move to 30 per cent as part of an international agreement.
China has said it will try to voluntarily reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide per unit of economic growth — a measure known as “carbon intensity” — by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels.
India has set a domestic emissions intensity reduction target of 20 to 25 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, exclusive of its agricultural sector. It also has ambitious targets for solar energy generation.
Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines have adopted important forest conservation measures.
Despite their different development levels, Asia and Europe share a common challenge of dealing with various facets of developing a low-carbon economy: managing urbanization, creating so-called “green jobs,” protecting forests, raising public awareness, investing in research and development, and training experts in green growth.
This requires coordination among states as well as a sharing of information and technology. In fact, since low-carbon development is a new concept for both regions - and there is no pre-established path towards achieving this goal - there is space for cooperation, joint learning, and collective Asia-Europe action.
Both Asia and Europe stand to gain: for European governments, green growth will help fight unemployment and provide new export opportunities. For their part, Asian countries will have an opportunity to leapfrog technology and avoid high-carbon consumption patterns, for example through a more widespread use of low emission cars.
Pathways to a low-carbon economy require action on four fronts: improving the energy efficiency of buildings, vehicles and industrial equipment; intensifying the use of low-carbon energy supply (like wind, hydro power, solar, carbon capture sequestration, and nuclear); halting deforestation and changing agricultural practices; and encouraging behavioral change in terms of food consumption, mobility, housing, tourism, and others.
There will be tough decisions to make since there will be initial job losses in the fossil energy sector. However, additional employment will be created in sustainable energy generation and in energy efficient products and services which are more labor-intensive than fossil energy production.
Besides, investments in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies could pull the global economy out of its economic slowdown over the next couple of years.
China has already set aside an important percentage of its economic stimulus package for developing new green technologies.
Whatever critics may say about Beijing’s resistance to carbon caps, it is clear that Chinese authorities want to highlight their own efforts to reduce emissions and spread the message to the grassroots.
The second decade of the 21st century will undoubtedly be decisive for accelerating low-carbon development. Discussions, information exchanges, and cooperation within ASEM could help foster the transition towards a low-carbon future, with an ASEM partnership working across all areas of cooperation, from international negotiations through private sector initiatives to aid-funded programs.
As Dirk Messner, a professor and director of the German Development Institute, stressed at the ASEM conference in Yogyakarta, “if ASEM countries would go for low-carbon development, they could transform the global economy.”
* Shada Islam is a Brussels-based journalist and is currently Senior Program Executive at the European Policy Centre
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