The United Nations climate change conference 2009 was held in Copenhagen in Dec. During the conference, a battle of words targeted at China was declared by the developed countries led by the United States, accusing China of blocking progress at the talks. China returned fire by blaming the developed countries of not willing to shoulder their responsibilities. Eventually, only a non-binding agreement called the Copenhagen Accord was reached before the two-week conference ended in controversy.

Dr Hung Wing-tat, an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, is a veteran environmental activist and researcher in transport-related environmental areas. Prior to this year’s Copenhagen conference, he had attended two UN Earth Summits on environment and development in 1992 and 2002. In this issue, Dr Hung analyzes the Copenhagen summit and the implications to Hong Kong.

Q: Why was it so difficult for countries to come up with agreements on joint actions against climate change?

Hung: It does take a long time and huge efforts for over 190 countries to agree on joint actions against climate change. The negotiation actually started in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was concluded. The Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted at a 1997 UN conference in Kyoto, requires all developed countries to cut greenhouse gases(GHG) emissions to 5% below 1990 levels during the five-year period 2008-2012. Up to now, over 180 countries rectify the Protocol and United States remains the only un-rectified country. But the Obama administration showed an interest in negotiating a new global reduction target at Copenhagen. So the negotiation started from afresh.

Q: What are the major disputes in the negotiations?

Hung : Firstly, reduction targets have to be set to control the greenhouse effect but there have been non-stop arguments over the years on whether the greenhouse effect is real and on how much cut is required. The second issue in dispute concerns the “common but differentiated responsibilities” among the developed, developing and least developed countries. It has been agreed that only developed countries are required to cut GHG emissions, and least developed and developing countries are merely required to monitor their emissions. The argument here is that some developed countries reckon China and some other developing countries should bear more responsibilities. Thirdly, there are disagreements on the amount and proportions of contribution among developed countries regarding funding supports for least developed and developing countries.

Q: Why did USA and China accuse each other of shirking their obligations during the conference?

Hung: I think the exchanges of accusations are just negotiation tactics. China and USA are the two biggest GHG emitting countries. USA and her alliances tried to force China and other emerging economies to allow the international community to verify their emissions. China and many developing countries, however, can only accept voluntary actions to control emissions. Verification of their emissions by other countries is considered an infringement of sovereignty. China, On the other hand, demanded USA to set a higher GHG reduction target and put up more funds in supporting the least developed and developing countries. At the end, USA came into direct negotiation with China, India, Brazil and South Africa, and came up with the Copenhagen Accord. Most other countries were not happy with this small circle negotiation process and made emotional comments on it. However, these countries started to rectify the Accord after one week of calming down.

Q: What have been agreed in the Copenhagen Accord?

Hung: There is no agreed GHG reduction target in the Accord. The signing parties of the Accord “recognize” that the rise in global temperature, as compared to pre-industrial levels, has to be controlled below two degrees Celsius. Developed countries agree to provide new funds in the order of USD30 billion by 2012 and commit to raise USD100 billion yearly by 2020, to help poorer countries adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. A Copenhagen Green Climate Fund will be set up to support related projects and activities. The Accord also provides a mechanism with which developed countries would list their reduction targets while participating developing countries would register mitigation and adaptation projects.

Q: What are the implications of the Copenhagen Accord for Hong Kong?

Hung: Hong Kong’s Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, led a delegation to attend the conference as part of the Chinese delegation. As China is an initiator and a signing party of the Copenhagen Accord, Hong Kong has the obligation to comply with the Accord. Upon returning from Copenhagen, Mr Yau told reporters that Hong Kong would review how to co-ordinate with the mainland on target-setting. The mainland has voluntarily proposed to cut carbon intensity by 40 to 45 per cent below the 2005 level by 2020. This is a golden opportunity for Hong Kong as we have a very strong capability to measure, report and verify GHG emissions. Our universities and the Environmental Protection Department have ample technical and managerial experience as well as the right equipments in these tasks. Furthermore, Hong Kong has experience in formulating and implementing air pollutant reduction measures and can include all GHG in the regulated gas pollutant list and undertake measurement, reporting and verification on these gases. Hong Kong can share her experience and know-how with other cities in the Chinese mainland and Asia, while the universities can extend our research and consultancy services as well as train up professionals working in these areas. The Copenhagen Green Climate Fund should support these capacity building activities.

Q: The Department of Civil and Structural Engineering is going to organize a Motor Vehicle Emissions Control Workshop (MoVE) in March 2010. Is this workshop relevant to the Copenhagen Accord?

Hung: We are organizing the MoVE 2010 workshop with Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department and mainland’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. The MoVE was initiated in 1999 and this year’s is the fifth workshop. It is a typical partnership project among academic, government and private sector, and provides an excellent platform for exchanges of ideas both in technological and management advances. With low carbon vehicle technology as one of the workshop’s main focuses, it provides a golden opportunity for Hong Kong to demonstrate our capability of measuring, reporting and verifying GHG emissions from vehicles as well as our experiences in formulating and implementing emission control measures. This is the kind of commitment that is required by the Copenhagen Accord.