COP stands for Conference Of the Parties – that is the countries who are party to the United Nations agreements on climate change through the Inter-govermental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC).
The conference attempts to reach binding agreement on actions to tackle climate change, primarily by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
So far there has not been a lot of progress, but this is an incredibly difficult process with every government needing to look to its own position domestically as well as the big picture. The good news is that at least they are talking on a worldwide scale. The bad news is that time to halt some devastating impacts has probably already run out.
Our pressure is to show that there is an incredible willingness by citizens who are deeply concerned to take effective action themselves and that this strength needs to be fed in to the negotiators to help them take effective action. Neither citizens nor governments can solve this problem alone, everything is needed and there is everything to play for.
Climate Vision report
Luci Isaacson was the coordinator for the “Footsteps to Copenhagen” campaign in 2009, and managed to persuade over 4,000 people in Cornwall to sign up to carbon-reducing pledges. She has been carrying out a study to track these people down and calculate how much CO2 had been saved by these pledges.
The results are remarkable, and show how much it is possible to achieve with a creative and engaging campaign. She has calculated the cost per ton of CO2 saved and demonstrates how effective this approach is in comparison with alternatives such as carbon storage, etc.
Please have a look at her website and at the report of her study. This report will be wheeling its way to Paris for the UN Climate Change Conference in the saddle bags of Euan McPhee and friends Pedalling to Paris