ties. Of
ties. Of them, 80 percent submitted an action plan. While this does not yet mean that promises will be fulfilled, it at least shows that saving energy and increasing the share of renewable energy is on the agenda of local governments. Regions are also involved in a similar scheme, with the initial results of commitments made by the socalled Compact of States and Regions expected to be presented in December in Paris. Members include Lombardy, Wales, Catalonia, Rhone-Alpes, and Baden-Württemberg. UK), and Oerebro (Sweden) have already promised they will no longer hold any shares in oil, coal, or gas projects. And while a place like Boxtel has only 30,000 inhabitants, the cliched ‘every part helps’, was the message at a recent conference on fossil fuel divestment in Paris. “Climate change is an easy topic to feel powerless about. It’s easy to throw your hands up”, said Julia Christian, who was involved in a divestment campaign at a university faculty in London. “But it has to be now, it has to be us.” DIVESTMENT MOVEMENT The latest emerging trend that is starting to trickle down in city halls is the global “divestment” movement. Slowly but surely, European cities are also joining this camp, which started in American universities and urges investors to ditch their investments in fossil fuel projects, and reinvest that money in clean energy projects. Boxtel (the Netherlands), Oxford and Bristol (the WHAT ARE THE CLIMATE NEGOTIA- TIONS IN PARIS ABOUT? From 30 November to 11 December 2015, the French capital will host the United Nations’ 21st annual conference on climate change. These meetings are officially called Conferences of the Parties, or COP. Hence the acronym COP21. Not every COP is equally important, but this is a big one. There has been only one treaty that set binding targets for countries to attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol (signed at COP3 in 1997) only set binding goals for the richest countries in the world. The US never ratified it, it has been criticised for not being effective enough, and it expired in 2012. Countries were supposed to have signed a successor treaty at COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark (2009), but that conference is widely seen as a failure, since it only produced a weak text. Paris is supposed to set right what was not achieved in Copenhagen: a global treaty with all countries, that commits them to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Ideally, the total of commitments would reduce emissions in such a way that the increase in the average global temperature - currently at 0.8 degrees Celsius higher since the mid-nineteenth century - does not rise above two degrees. However, there are already signs that this may prove difficult to achieve. Countries were supposed to have signed a successor treaty at COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark (2009), but that conference is widely seen as a failure, since it only produced a weak text. Photo: greenpeace.org 06 ––––– EUobserver Magazine 2015
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