E3G

Jennifer Morgan on Living on Earth Radio

By Jennifer Morgan

With the meeting at Poznan, Poland just hours away, Bruce Gellerman of Living on Earth Radio interviews Jennifer Morgan on what she expects will happen at the negotiations. The recording of the interview is available here and below is a transcript.

The historic city of Poznan, Poland will host talks on the future of climate change.

International leaders will meet in Poznan, Poland next week to lay the groundwork for a renewed commitment to cutting CO2 emissions, adapting to climate change and fostering renewable energy. Jennifer Morgan, director of the Global Climate Program for the think tank E3G, tells host Bruce Gellerman that she’s cautiously optimistic that the U.S., with Barack Obama at the helm, will play a strong role in the fight against climate change.

A new sense of hope and momentum…” Jennifer Morgan, Director of Global Climate Change, E3G

GELLERMAN: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley studios in Somerville, Massachusetts, This is Living on Earth. I’m Bruce Gellerman, in for Steve Curwood.

Poznan, Poland is the place to be if you want to help save the planet from climate change. For 12 days in December, Poznan plays host to eight thousand delegates from 190 countries, there to discuss what should happen when the Kyoto Protocol comes to an end in 2012. Kyoto committed most industrial nations - except the US - to deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Progress has been a mixed bag, but now a global economic meltdown and a change of administration in Washington dramatically alter the climate for a new treaty.

Jennifer Morgan is director of global climate change for E3G. It’s a think tank that focuses on international sustainable development and she’s on the phone from Berlin. Thanks for joining us, Ms Morgan!

MORGAN: Thank you.!

GELLERMAN: So what are your expectations of what’s going to happen at the twelve days of Poznan?

“I am feeling pretty confident that the European Union…, Japan … and pretty much all of the industrialized countries, perhaps except for Canada, will … meet the targets that they agreed upon in Kyoto.”

MORGAN: Well I think my expectations are that the negotiations will be moved forward hopefully with a new sense of hope and momentum. This meeting falls within a two year negotiating time frame from Bali when the new round was launched last year to Copenhagen when agreement is scheduled to be reached in December of 2009. So it’s a bit of a middle; kind of a stock taking meeting. But hopefully one which will provide some hope for us moving forward in the final year of negotiations.

GELLERMAN: But no concrete treaty or agreements?

MORGAN: No. The way that the negotiations are scheduled is that this one is really about getting all of the ideas out on the table and understanding countries positions more, but no final outcome is expected here. It’s just a year too early. We need one more year to get everything done.