Locking-in the endpoint: Defining where we want to go (or need to go)

1945 was the year that changed the course of history because of the decisions taken by the leaders of the world to reestablish the welfare of the citizens at that time. 2015 is very similar in importance, it is the year to make decisions, form alliances and take actions for the prosperity of future generations and the survival of our planet.

70 years have passed since the end of WWII, and the decisions and actions taken after it defined the world, as we know it. A lot has changed since then, and today we are facing a new problem, a global problem that needs to become the number one concern to us all.

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to human lives and human rights in the 21^st century. We are using and wasting our resources, we are living in a consumption-based linear structure that is leading us to an end-point with no return.

As we know the climate is changing; pollution and CO2 emissions are increasing, floods, droughts, hunger; poverty, resource scarcity and environmental issues are constant news. But even though we have realized that there is a big problem coming our way, no much action is being taken to confront it.

In December 2015 the COP21 will be held in Paris, France. It is the largest and most important event on climate change. This event should be the turning point towards the future of our planet.

Governments, corporations and people from 196 countries are getting together to discuss and, hopefully, convey actions concerning climate change that must be taken in the near future to avoid the catastrophes that are heading our way.

This event will test the compromise of the shareholders in the matter and will help to define the agreements that will enable change to happen.

As we know making agreements and establishing goals and regulations has to be the main objective, nonetheless that is something quite difficult to accomplish.

The stakeholders involved in each subject to be discussed in the COP21 must agree with the decisions and compromises taken, in order for these actions to be fulfilled in the coming years.

One of the main and most controversial issues that need to be addressed in this forum is “the responsibility of the emissions of CO2”; the different stakeholders need to achieve a consensus on it, in order to define actions according to their share of “guilt” in CO2 emissions. In a Utopian world every stakeholder would do anything possible to reduce most, if not all, of their emissions in behalf of all of us, but maybe as a first step (big step) I consider that taking responsibility for ones emissions is the most realistic way to start.

This is why, in my opinion, the reduction of CO2 emissions is and must be a global concern, not only a national concern, and as President Tong from Kiribati said:

“If this emissions could be kept within the borders of a country then “cutting back” emissions would be just fine, but they can’t be kept within the borders, they are spread throughout the world, and they affect us all”.

What is the value or the advantages of reducing emissions?

I think one of the biggest problems we are facing, is that stakeholders are just focusing on the negatives and the short term financial losses involved in the reduction of CO2 emissions, but in the long term the revenues from the actions taken today will be much greater than the risks and losses that seem to come in for global finance. Not only because of the positive environmental impact that is visible to the public, but also because lowering carbon emissions often goes hand-in-hand with future energy cost-cutting.

Climate change affects not only the shareholders, it affects every country, every city, everyone of us.

Mariana Viesca García de Alba

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