President Obama flies to Copenhagen – Rasta Livewire Environment Section, News Reports
President Obama flies to Copenhagen next week for a fresh round of talks to tackle issues around environmental pollution and “global warming.”
Obama and other leaders will consider a treaty that encourages industrialized nations to compensate developing nations for the over-exploitation and pollution of the earth’s resources and space linked Industrial activities.
The official draft Copenhagen treaty establishes an oversight body that will foster “public policies . . . to which the market rules and related dynamics should be subordinate.”
The treaty also sets a framework for the “transfer of technical and financial resources from developed countries to developing countries” via “a multilateral climate-change fund” and other schemes. The transfer of knowledge and techincal expertise is important as it takes a well developed pool of human resources to combat the practises that threaten the environment.
By 2020, it is expect that up to $50 billion to $140 billion a year will be available in those funds to “meet the full costs incurred by developing-country parties” as a result of unsustainable industrial practises of western countries.
The draft’s many revenue options include penalties and fines, a 2 percent tax on international financial-market transactions, a global carbon tax from which developing nations “shall be exempt” and “mandatory contributions” of 0.5 to 1 percent of GDP.
Today, this carbon-tax alone, if implemented, could potentially garner about $72.2 billion to $144.4 billion in brand-new funding available for global development.
Rasta Livewire Environment Section