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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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5 THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM CLIMATE CHANGEapproaches, such as regulation, subsidy, and taxation, must be includedif the global response is <strong>to</strong> match up <strong>to</strong> the urgency of the challenge.Regardless of the instruments employed, the global mitigationeffort will require big changes in the way that high-consumptionsocieties live, and in the distribution of finance and technology acrossthe globe. Just as with adaptation, successful mitigation will requirethe transfer of clean energy technologies and finance <strong>to</strong> tailor anddeploy these in developing-country contexts on a massive scale. Aninnovation fund for clean development <strong>to</strong> finance an environmentalequivalent of national poverty reduction strategies would be essential<strong>to</strong> allow developing-countries <strong>to</strong> curb their emissions while alsoaddressing poverty and inequality.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) showswhat good global governance can achieve. Set up in 1988 by the UN’sWorld Meteorological Organisation and the UN EnvironmentProgramme, the IPCC has since released four comprehensive assessmentsof the available scientific, technical, and socio-economicknowledge relevant <strong>to</strong> climate change, in 1990, 1995, 2001, and 2007.Policy makers refer <strong>to</strong> these reports as the definitive word on the stateof climate-related science.The impressive authority and influence of the IPCC stem from thebody’s carefully conceived procedures and governance structure.Critically, the IPCC does not carry out any new scientific researchitself; its reports are nothing but expert reviews of all of the published,peer-reviewed scientific findings available. It is expressly barred frommaking policy recommendations on the basis of its reviews – conclusionsmust be ‘policy-relevant, not policy-prescriptive’.Most importantly, as an intergovernmental body, the IPCC’sconclusions must be agreed by all member governments beforepublication. This means that the IPCC’s findings reflect not only theconsidered judgement and interpretation of around 1,000 scientists,but also a consensus of governments around the world. 235 It alsomeans that its findings tend <strong>to</strong> be presented in the most conservativepossible form, since governments that maintain an active interestin muzzling inconvenient scientific findings have some sway overdecision-making.417

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