What will not be addressed at the climate change conference in Paris

Ein Gastbeitrag von Will Denayer (deutsche Version folgt)

This week, the governments of more than 190 nations meet in Paris in order to discuss a global agreement on climate change. According to Hollande, if equitable goals on the climate can be met, it will be a triumph for international cooperation, for our well-being and security and for faith in the future. But the top in Paris will not be a triumph. The most important factor is power relations, specifically those that are behind Article 3.5 of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change of Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (see here). This article states that there can be no question that 'measures taken to fight climate change (...) constitute any means of imposing arbitrary or unjustifiable discriminations in international trade or disguised restrictions to trade.' We can work out an agreement on climate change, but economic orthodoxy and neo-liberal globalisation cannot be questioned. At COP21, negotiators will focus on legal instruments to replace the Kyoto Protocol and on a ratchet mechanism that requires countries to revisit their emissions pledges every five years. None of the major countries or blocs – the US, Russia, China or the EU – are willing to accept an agreement that will bind their hands in any way. The Paris agreement will therefore not amount to anything more than the smallest common denominator that the major powers are willing to accept. The sum total of all national measures will constitute global action.