Denmark, the host the Copenhagen Climate Conference 2009, invites the participants to reduce the greenhouse emission to 50% by 2050, referring to the 1990 level.
Copenhagen, hosting the conference from December 7th to 18th, wants participants to guarantee these reductions. Denmark says 80% of these reductions should be made by rich countries, but did not fix intermediate objectives for them, a detail poorer countries are insisting on.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he wants a political engagement of 5 to 8 pages to be signed. The document will fix the obligations every country will have to assume in order to guarantee the limitation of the global warming and avoid exceeding the 2 degrees temperature elevation average fixed by climatologists by 2020. Danish PM wants to fix 2010 as an engaging date for participants to sign an international treaty and start applying it.
The Bali summit that took place in 2007 failed to engage countries in a serious greenhouse emission reduction treaty after a disagreement between rich countries and poor ones on the responsibility of each of them. However, China and the United States have announced last week, and for the first time, their objectives to reduce their emissions. In fact, this is the first time the two industry giants announce numbered objectives. The United States said it is willing to reduce by 17% its greenhouse emissions by 2020, then by 30% by 2025, 42% by 2030 (referring to 2005 emission levels). China, the world’s first CO2 producer said it is willing to reduce its emissions by 45% by 2020 (also referring to the 2005 level).
The European Union promised it will reduce its emissions by 20% by 2020 referring to the 1990 level, and said it may go down by 30% if other countries decide to follow its model. Climatologists are claiming between 25% and 40% reduction by 2020 to avoid the most catastrophic scenarios.