THE CARBON WAR

Chapter 14
From carbon capitalism to climate capitalism
Lima, 3 rd –14 th December 2014
This is the first annual climate summit of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change that I have been to since the bitter disappointment of Copenhagen
in 2009. Senior diplomats have been telling the press that this session
of the climate talks, and the follow-up through to the Paris climate summit a
year hence, is the best chance in a generation to tackle climate change. One of
the main reasons for their optimism is the announcement of a bilateral deal
between the US and China, the two main emitters. On November 11 th , after
months of secret talks, Washington and Beijing unveiled new emissions targets
of their own, and committed to lead the global effort to combat climate change
together. Presidents Obama and Xi Jinping announced the initiative in Beijing.
The US will emit 26% to 28% less carbon in 2025 than it did in 2005: a target
double the speed of the previous reduction commitment. China, starting way
behind the US in terms of emissions commitments per capita of course, will
finally come to the emissions-reductions game with a commitment to stop its
emissions growing by 2030. By that time, President Xi says, 20% of China’s
energy would come from solar, wind and other renewables. Energy, not electricity,
note. That includes transport. The Chinese must have EVs in mind.
In late October, EU leaders agreed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions unionwide
by 40%, by 2030. In Berlin on the eve of the Lima summit, Angela Merkel’s
cabinet agreed extra German cuts from the power sector to meet a 40% target
by 2020.
The EU commitment, and Germany’s renewed push for leadership within
the union, is nothing if not a big reminder to E.ON that it has made the right
call with its U-turn towards clean energy.
While I am squirting carbon into the air from an Airbus, slumped over
my computer, I exchange e-mails with my Carbon Tracker colleagues. Issue of