Now that the flurry of media coverage around the climate change talks held in Copenhagen in December 2009 has died down, it is time to reflect on the outcomes and consider what they mean for European property investors, says Julie Hirigoyen, director and head of Upstream Sustainability Services at Jones Lang LaSalle.
Now that the flurry of media coverage around the climate change talks held in Copenhagen in December 2009 has died down, it is time to reflect on the outcomes and consider what they mean for European property investors, says Julie Hirigoyen, director and head of Upstream Sustainability Services at Jones Lang LaSalle.
In a column in the January/February edition of PropertyEU Magazine, Hirigoyen notes 'Copenhagen' was intended to conclude a two-year negotiating process to establish a far-reaching global climate change deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, itself due to expire in 2012.
Unfortunately, the tensions between rapidly developing economies such as China and India, and developed countries in the West, resulted in the Copenhagen Accord - a weak outline agreement, falling short of what many governments were seeking. The accord recognises the case for limiting future global warming to 2°C relative to pre-industrial levels but does not commit to any emissions reduction targets to achieve this. Nonetheless, some small steps were taken in the right direction:
* China and the US finally joined the international community in seeking a global solution to climate change.
* All 28 signatory nations agreed to communicate emissions reduction targets for 2020 by 31 January 2010, and to announce initiatives on how they will mitigate emissions every two years.
* Developed countries committed $30 bn of financial aid over 2010-2012 and $100 bn annually by 2020 to help the most vulnerable developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change.
* In a side-event at COP15, the UNEP Sustainable Buildings for Climate Initiative successfully launched a 12-month pilot of the Common Carbon Metric - a simple measure of energy and carbon intensity that can be used on any building and in any region. If successful, this pilot will lead to far greater consistency in reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from building operations, which in itself would be a major achievement.
The full column appears in the January/February edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe
