Saving the world

A summit on climate change and global warming, which gathered representatives of about 100 UN member states, ended the other day in New York. The summit’s initiator, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, believes that humankind has only 10 years to save itself because climate changes will be irreversible under unfavorable conditions and that it is the moral and political duty of every country. This kind of international forums devoted to man’s influence on the environment as well as various nature-conservation campaigns have become very topical over the past few months in a number of countries, Ukraine being no exception. The point is that Copenhagen will host on December 7 an historic conference of the representatives of 200 counties which are supposed to undertake to radically cut the atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases. This will be preceded by the adoption of a new document which will replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2013.

International non-governmental ecological organizations are disseminating the idea that what have an impact on global warming are not only enormous industrial emissions into the air but also, for example, automobile exhaust gases and that every individual must bear responsibility for environmental impact. For instance, in anticipation of the Copenhagen UN conference, they recently announced a contest of up-to-90-second-long video clips (narration, animation, innovation, satire, films by professional and amateur directors, science fiction, musical trailers, etc.) on the global climate change. The winner has been promised a prize worth 1,000 pounds sterling, and the best productions will be shown at the conference. The award-winning clips will be also demonstrated in British movie theaters and at the British Institute of Cinema. Ukraine is also participating in this contest, and environmentalists are urging creative-minded people with interesting ideas to cooperate for saving the climate. Iryna STAVCHUK, climate change program coordinator at the National Ecological Center of Ukraine, has told The Day more in detail about the contest and the ecological problems that Ukraine and the world should highlight.

What hopes are ecologists, including those in Ukraine, pinning on the Copenhagen conference?

“On December 7 there will be a conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. The forum’s aim is to draw up and sign a new agreement that will replace the Kyoto Protocol now in force. For the new agreement to come into force in 2012, it should be signed right now because it will also have to be ratified by national governments and parliaments. Ukraine being an industrially developed country, we must commit ourselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make a financial contribution to the international climate fund.

“The developing countries should also make an effort to cut emissions – not in terms of quantitative restrictions but perhaps in some other form of commitment. The question is that the developed countries must reduce emissions by 40 percent of the 1990 level, whereas the Kyoto Protocol contained a general obligation to cut emissions by 5 percent only. We are sharply criticizing the position which official Kyiv is going to present in Copenhagen, for the government is planning to increase, instead of reducing, greenhouse gas emissions. They intend to continue selling quotas and doing nothing. This position is unacceptable from the viewpoint of ecological organizations and the international community. It is also bad for Ukraine because in reality it is far cheaper to introduce real energy-saving measures than to build new thermal and nuclear power plants. So we would benefit from a tough governmental energy-saving policy. International commitments would have speeded up and forced the government to carry out unpopular reforms in the energy sector instead of putting this on hold.

“International experts are aware of this, but they are not in a position to exert any influence because it is governmental delegations that make decisions. But, to forestall a situation when some countries reduce emissions and others do not wish to do so, the US and the EU are considering the possibility of imposing a duty on the imported goods. For example, they may pass a law that will be taxing goods depending on the extent to which a country is cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Very soon, the airplanes that fly to and from the EU will have to pay for greenhouse gas emissions. So if Ukraine does not undertake commitments, it will also face international taxes or certain restrictions in the movement of goods. For this reason, the government should stop resisting and begin to seriously plan energy-saving measures and greenhouse gas emission cuts.”

Why does the government stubbornly resist cutting emissions and is slowing down the modernization of enterprises and the implementation of alternative technologies?

“The ostensible reason is shortage of money to fund the program of greenhouse gas emission reduction. But when we ask about concrete calculations (i.e., on the basis of what such conclusions are made), it turns out that there have not been this kind of assessment. Meanwhile, international assessments, including the one made by the International Energy Agency, show that the Ukrainian government has planned to build an enormous number of coal-based and nuclear power plants. Economic analyses show that it is far more cost-effective to channel these funds into energy-saving programs. It will be 4 to 10 times cheaper, even with due account of the Ukrainian budget squeeze. The funds are simply being misused. Coal-based and nuclear energy facilities receive huge subsidies from the state, which gives rise to a number of corruption schemes. Besides, this is of benefit to large industrial enterprises: while the state pays for energy generation, they buy energy at a lower-than-cost price and sell goods at world prices. So why should they save energy in this situation?”

Will representatives of Ukrainian non-governmental ecological organizations go to the conference in order to watch our official delegation?

“Yes, there will be representatives of ecological organizations in Copenhagen, which will be monitoring the work of our delegation and keep the public informed about the course of negotiations. Besides, every time negotiations of this level are held civic organizations, such as Greenpeace or the BBC, conduct campaigns to draw public attention to the problem. This is also planned this year.”

Ms. Stavchuk, is this the first time a clip contest on climate change is being held?

“Such contests are held quite often. For example, last year the UN announced a photo contest on this subject. It was a ‘very Ukrainian’ contest. As for the current contest of video clips, it was suggested for the entire planet. It does not matter where the clip author is from. We are dealing with climate change and think it would be a good idea if the mass media highlighted this information and Ukraine presented more products.”

What topics may be important for Ukraine in the context of climate change?

“These are all the topics associated with energy usage, energy conservation, fuel, coal, gas, transport – all that can bring people information on the increased content of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, hazardous emissions, poorly insulated pipes that heat up outside air instead of heating the house (which is caused by the injudicious usage of energy), etc. On the other hand, a clip may focus on such a topic as the consequences of climate change that Ukraine is already suffering from: floods, droughts, tornados, anomalous natural phenomena (for example, storms in the Sea of Azov, where they are supposed to occur very seldom). So the contest invites anybody with a creative idea about informing on and drawing attention to the causes and effects of the climate change problem as well as about the solution of it.”