Sex and the Climate: Behind Closed Doors

In discussions of climate change, a topic is making grown adults squirm in their seats. Heads of state, health professionals and high-level negotiators alike shy away from mentioning it. The roles of sex, reproductive rights and population control in climate change mitigation are subjects lingering behind negotiations over forests and finance.

The phrase ‘population control’ is a loaded one. With the birth of the world’s seven-billionth child in October, concerns surrounding overpopulation, resource use and associated environmental degradation highlight the potential of population control as a solution to the climate crisis.

The benefits appear self-evident: fewer people on Earth equals fewer resources used and fewer greenhouse gas emissions produced.

A 2011 report ‘The Population-Climate Connection’ found, “In all parts of the world, population growth is associated with a proportionate increase in emissions: a 10% increase in population generally yields a 10% increase in emissions.”

In spite of cited environmental gains from limiting growth, controversy surrounds both the effectiveness and ethics of population control.

Countries with the highest populations are generally those with the lowest per-capita emissions. The finger is often pointed at those in developing nations who receive no access to education on issues of family planning, and no access to contraception.

Population growth must be considered, but it also means the effects wealthier nations are having on climate change may be swept aside. As long as the consumer class continues to thrive and remain the aspiration for developing states, curbed population growth will continue to be met with high rates of consumption, a trend counteracting the positive environmental effects of decreased population rates.

Ethically, population control places a numerical value on human life, limiting a natural biological process. Humans are wired to procreate – it’s a fact.

Control can be disempowering, imposing constraints upon women as free agents over their own bodies and reproductive processes. Reports of forced abortions, sterilisation abuse and female infanticide arising from China’s one-child policy have proved worrying.

Population Action International Climate Program Director Roger-Mark D’Souza believes a paradigm shift is necessary, addressing sexual health and contraception under a rights framework as opposed to one of ‘control’.

“I have a slight discomfort with using the word overpopulation, because that implies that someone is able to decide what is the threshold and we can determine which number, how many people we need to survive on the planet,” he said.

Reproductive rights emphasise a woman’s ability to choose to have children, as well as to not have children. It is not about ‘control’, but increased freedom, education and access to contraception. The choice is given to the individual, but there are options.

Former Irish President and Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health Chair Mary Robinson believes investment in family planning can increase a family’s resilience to climate change.

“About 215 million women in the world would love to have access to contraceptives. If we were to solve that problem, we would not only help those women to be better mothers and better leaders in their families and in their communities, we would also do great work for the climate,” she said.

When it comes to climate change, women will be worst hit. As the traditional gatherers of food, water and fuel, the depletion of these climate-dependent resources means reduced capacity to provide for their families and themselves.

The World Bank has identified 45 countries that are both water-short and economically poor. These countries also have higher fertility rates, with a 4.8 average as compared to the global average of 2.6, a figure that is still growing.

With reduced resource access and increasing family sizes, the burden upon women is great and will continue to worsen. Access to family planning is a rights issue, allowing women to better adapt to a changing climate.

Health-wise, there are also great benefits. A 2009 UN Food Program report identified providing adequate family planning and reproductive health services worldwide would result in a drop in unintended pregnancies by more than two thirds, maternal deaths by 70 per cent and unsafe abortions by 73 per cent.

Family planning in regards to climate change has become a taboo subject, but it is also crucial to the rights of women, particularly those in poor countries who are the most vulnerable. This is a conversation we need to have, if framed in a way that empowers and does not restrict women and their control over their own bodies.

Posted on March 27, 2012 by admin in COP17, Development, Education, Environment, Gender Speak Your Mind

Leaders Plan for Change at Climate Convention

Over two days in December 2011, while world leaders discussed global co-operation on climate change at the 17th annual Conference of the Parties (COP) climate change negotiations – also known as COP-17 – industry leaders proceeded with plans for combating climate change at the World Climate Summit.

The two events were co-located, held in Durban, South Africa.

The World Climate Summit

Held during the official United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) annual COP every December, the World Climate Summit is designed to provide a platform for business-focused climate change solutions.

More than 8,000 companies and 1,300 trans-national governments were involved in the 2011 summit, a cohort representing nearly $71 trillion in assets. To the 800 attendees, the goal was simple: to pioneer, develop and finance profitable green business opportunities; at least, it sounds simple enough.

The inaugural summit in 2010 had overflowed with hope and ambition. Aided by the appearance of major business leaders and clean energy stakeholders, those gathered in Cancun, Mexico, at the 2010 World Climate Summit were told that it is the private sector that can bring about the most meaningful change.

Virgin Group’s Richard Branson, American businessman Ted Turner and Lord Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics and Political Science were just a few of the names inspiring business leaders in 2010.

In 2011, it was less about the big names and their speeches and more about the actions of those bringing about a transformation to a clean economy. While major keynote speakers such as South African President Jacob Zuma, UNFCCC Secretariat Christiana Figueres, European Union Commissioner on Climate Action Connie Hedegaard and a host of chief executives and industry leaders still inspired the delegates, the focus of the summit was narrower and the rhetoric more ‘down to earth’.

Progress in 2011

Proceedings at the 2011 World Climate Summit were kick-started by Ms Figueres, who placed business at the centre of effective action on climate change. According to Ms Figueres, the politics of COP-17 were not about the politics at all – rather, they were about developing a “global business plan,” one with “a triple bottom line: enhancing adaptation, mitigation and poverty alleviation.”

To a nodding audience, Ms Figueres condemned governments worldwide for being both behind schedule on what current science demands, and also for not providing enough clarity to businesses on climate change adaption.

“Businesses have to work in a context of not perfect policy, which could take a while to mature,” Ms Figueres said. She urged businesses to do more to combat climate change of their own accord.

It was an effective message of urgency and of the need to accelerate action on global environmental problems, and it set the tone for a summit dedicated to doing more.

The forums and discussions were designed to turn that message into meaningful action. One major theme throughout the summit was the power of collaboration, both within the business community and with external organisations.

The Consumer Goods Forum, a global association uniting leading consumer goods retailers and manufacturers and representing $3 trillion in revenue, spoke about phasing out hydro fluorocarbons and committing to net-neutral deforestation by 2020 across their supply chains for four key commodities.

Coca-Cola Company executives spoke about teaming up with the World Wildlife Fund to demonstrate the tragedy that climate change presents for polar bears, using Coke’s polar bear mascot branding to tell stories and ultimately be drivers of change.

Business gets on board

Industry experts such as Juan Costa Climent of Ernst & Young advised attendees to reconsider what they value, and therefore are measuring on their balance sheets. If we value quality of life, opportunity and security, he argued, we must put a price on carbon and value nature’s services. Only then can a drive for innovation and investment to underpin prosperity and stability be achieved.

Mr Climent made the interesting observation that transparency, information and advice can speed up the process of change; once people have full information, he said, they will make the right choices.

This sentiment was echoed by Siemens Chief Sustainability Officer Barbara Kux, who highlighted under-used viable and profitable green technologies, such as LED lighting, that could in the medium term reduce global emissions by 38 per cent. If more people knew that the estimations of green market opportunities are already over $3.7 trillion and ever-increasing, the process of change would quicken tenfold.

Several other companies reflected on their efforts to become low-carbon, including Dow Chemical, FEMSA, and Puma.

Many roundtables with experts and business leaders were held. Alstom organised a private roundtable on clean energy as a path to sustainable development, while The European Investment Bank led a session on the creation of a low-carbon economy with businesses and financiers. Attendees were also able to network and develop partnerships in a room made completely from sustainable materials.

Global perspectives

As an Australian, it was flattering to hear Australia repeatedly touted as a world leader in 2011 for implementing the political initiatives that will contribute to greening the world economy. One finance leader went as far as to claim Australia was acting as a “game-changer” in the Asia Pacific, in the beginning of what could be a shift in the epicentre of global carbon markets away from Europe and towards the Pacific Rim as a “powerhouse of low carbon investment.”

In a panel session about green technology innovations at the 2011 World Climate Summit, Australia was highlighted as being an area of rapid growth and innovation in clean energy technology and project management over the coming decade.

The Gigaton Prize, awarded by the World Climate Summit to the company that has contributed the greatest amount of ‘absolute’ carbon emissions reduction worldwide, was awarded to Chinese solar company Suntech. For the first time, in 2011 a special Gigaton Prize was awarded to the country investing the most in renewable energy, with Germany taking the honours.

The work of the World Climate Summit did not end when the summit itself ended, as the companies involved all pledged commitment to ambitious goals for lowering emissions and increasing investment in clean energy over the coming 12 months.

After two days of intense and innovative thinking, engaging discussions, and pragmatic planning from business and industry leaders alongside the UNFCCC COP-17, the 2011 World Climate Summit achieved a vital first step in triggering the level of action needed to bring about a low-carbon global economy and a transition towards clean, renewable energy.

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This article also appeared in EcoGeneration.

Posted on March 26, 2012 by admin in Africa, Business, COP17, Environment, Finance Speak Your Mind

2012: A Year for Reflection and Redemption on the Environment

In the last twelve months we broke records, eclipsed human capabilities, and exceeded numbers previously unthinkable. In turn, we experienced new weather extremes, witnessed unforeseen tragedies take thousands of lives and felt the escalating costs of adapting to a hostile environment.

2011 saw us again push the boundaries of the environment, resulting in what The Guardian’s John Vidal has called an “ecologically tumultuous year”. Record greenhouse gas emissions, a nuclear meltdown, rapid arctic sea ice melts, and another year of rising temperatures in 2011 have made the apocalyptic prophecies of 2012 look increasingly believable.

But there are signs of hope on the horizon. Despite the concerning trends on greenhouse gas emissions and resource constraints, 2012 presents the world, and particularly Australia, with opportunities for reflection and redemption in our relations with the environment.

In June, world leaders, under the banner of the United Nations, will gather in Rio de Janeiro for the “Rio+20” conference on sustainable development. The event will mark twenty years since the first landmark environmental summit in the same city. It is a golden opportunity for focussed energies on the environment; and a sobering moment for reflection on the limited progress of the past twenty years.

The force with which the UN climate change conference in Durban ended last month, with a roadmap to a globally binding treaty on greenhouse emissions by 2020, is not guaranteed to carry over to Rio. As commentators from environmental NGOs to The Economist have predicted, world leaders are likely to be distracted by the immediate concerns of the global economy. In other words, we may see another sad year whereby the economy and the environment are treated by political leaders as distinctly separate issues.

Yet the reflection at the summit may well prove its salience. The last twenty years have seen UN bodies, conventions, treaties and institutions all set up to save us from ecological collapse, with limited success. Now in the face of ever more certain scientific evidence, world leaders cannot afford to delay to action on climate change, resource use, biodiversity, forests and water scarcity yet again. The overwhelming problems we face may well be enough to spur significant action on improving the global environment at Rio.

If not, business leaders in 2012 will continue to see past ill-informed electorates and their representatives and be the catalysts for change. Last year saw the highest investments in renewable technology ever, and in 2012 this may well be led by the private sector, which has the most to lose, and the most to gain, from the environmental crises we face. Expect markets to be the leaders in innovating and adapting to environmental crises. Prepare for investment in low carbon companies and technologies to soar.

In 2011 the global market in emissions expanded beyond most predictions. A new game changing Pacific Rim of carbon trading is emerging, with commerce centres from Sydney to Beijing to Tokyo becoming carbon trading hubs. Already California and Tokyo, each with populations and economies comparable toAustralia, have carbon trading schemes. New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme will remain in its transition period until end of 2012. Now with some Chinese provinces piloting carbon trading schemes and China indicating it will pilot a national scheme before 2015, East Asia and the Pacific Rim in 2012 may well overtake Europe as the centre of carbon markets.

This will be aided by the Australian price on carbon, coming into effect on July 1^st. Expect the vitriolic hyperbole in the national debate to cool soon afterwards, as households find themselves better off through a combination of tax cuts and payments as their pockets are lined with carbon compensation. The real significance lies in the middle power of Asia adopting a national scheme to combat carbon emissions, a powerful signal for the rest of the region and an innovative move to give Australian industries a green edge in the regional markets.

Finally, both Time magazine and the forestry advocacy website Mongabay.com have highlighted the “ Protester” as the story of 2011. Don’t expect the protestors to rest in 2012. Last year we saw huge demonstrations against environmentally destructive policies, from Bolivia to Burma to Britain. The United States saw incredible civil disobedience campaigns against the controversial Keystone pipeline, which would bring carbon-intensive tar sand oils from Canada to a global market. The Keystone actions resulted in over 1,000 people arrested in a two week long action, and the campaign going viral and inspiring millions across the globe. All these cases ended in victory for the demonstrators. However the battles are unlikely to cease in 2012, only now the force and momentum is on the other side: grassroots movements, hereunto unheard causes, and drivers of social and political change—this will be the space to watch in 2012. These may well be the influencers which bring about the required momentum needed to avoid catastrophe.

Already in 2012 the inclusion of aviation in the European emissions trading scheme, including flights from and to Europe by foreign carriers, has come into effect. Without the utter collapse of the airline industry, it must also be noted. So while doomsayers on both sides will highlight 2012 apocalyptic, the truth as always lies somewhere in between. Yes, the environmental situation in 2012 is dire, with all indicators on climate risk pointing towards catastrophe. Yes, the year will feature its fair share of weather related tragedies. And yes, increases in consumption and populations will place an ever greater strain on resources and prices. But the year provides some hope. No more can world leaders delay, and Rio will provide the perfect opportunity for reflection. The opportunities for cities, corporations and individuals in the changing, greening market will rapidly grow and mature. It will become increasingly difficult for nations to avoid the economic benefits of becoming environmentally aware. Carbon markets will grow, and the arrival of the carbon tax in Australia will provide no less than an economic hiccup of the GST a decade ago. And the voices of the people, the voices demanding immediate and effective action on protecting and improving the environment, will grow louder and louder. For the environment, 2012 will be the year of reflection, redemption and resilience in the face of adversary.

Posted on January 5, 2012 by thall in Environment Speak Your Mind

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