Thoughts on the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit By Malcolm Lewis

Well, here we are. The successor to Kyoto has finally arrived, and yet it’s a murky outlook. What will happen? Will mankind pull together to act for the well-being of the planet and all species, or are we doomed by self-interest and the "tragedy of the commons" to argue and temporize instead?

Of course, only time will tell, but there are some hopeful signs. Both the US and China have committed to specific reductions in GHG emissions, though not to the levels needed to achieve equilibrium. Both Barack Obama and Hu Jintao are scheduled to speak in Copenhagen, and one can only hope and pray that statesmanship will be more appealing than chest-thumping. It is possible that some progress will be made in setting global targets for national emissions reductions. And this would be far more progress than was achieved in Kyoto in 1997.

As we await the outcome of the Copenhagen discussions and negotiations, there is another story that needs to be told ... one that has been unfolding for the past few years and is accelerating. This is the story of the parallel efforts to reduce GHG emissions through enlightened actions of both private (non-governmental) and public (governmental) sectors to reduce GHG emissions through policy and actions that don’t require federal law or international agreement.

There is a widespread agreement among scientists and observers around the world that we need to reduce GHG emissions to the point where we can maintain a maximum of 350 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere. This has informed countless public and private programs to drive down GHG emissions from every possible source: power plants, buildings, transportation, and industry. These programs range from the State of California’s AB-32 Global Warming Solutions Act to the global network of activists at http://www.350.org/ to commitments by major corporations to reduce their carbon footprints.

The portion of this activity in which CTG is most active is the built environment (buildings, communities, and related infrastructure). We have been working for years in the area of carbon emissions reductions, pioneering techniques that can make this achievable both technically and economically. A summary of some of these activities includes:

• CTG developed its Climate Ready™ services to aid property owners and managers to assess and manage the implications of climate change on real estate portfolios.
• CTG developed one of the modeling approaches for assessing carbon mitigation strategies that was recommended by the State of California Attorney General's office for real estate project entitlements.
• CTG is currently leading a statewide team under the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program to develop protocols for prediction and measurement of GHG emissions from buildings and land use, which it is anticipated will be the basis for the state's implementation of AB-32.
• CTG performed the analysis underlying the inclusion in LEED of carbon weighting for LEED 2009, and is currently doing the same for LEED 2012.
• CTG has provided support to many of its real estate clients in assessing the “carbon footprint” of their portfolios and determining economically viable ways to reduce those footprints.

The point of summarizing these activities is to make clear that the world doesn’t need to sit on its hands pending agreements reached in Copenhagen. There are many tangible and practical steps that can be taken (and are being taken) by individuals and organizations to reduce GHG emissions now. If you’d like more insight as to how, contact John Irvine at jji@ctg-net.com / 949-428-6267.

In our next post we’d like to offer ideas about what more can be done to reduce the impacts the built environment has on climate change.

-Malcolm

Malcolm Lewis is President of CTG Energetics