Good Magazine - The GOOD Guide to COP15 - The Issues

This is my favorite of these installments so far. This post briefly describes many of the major issues that will be discussed in Copenhagen, and then gives a one sentence description of what should happen and what will most likely happen. It then grades each issue on its likelihood of being satisfactorily resolved in Copenhagen.

End Goal

The long-term goals of preserving a habitable planet will effectively be boiled down to a single number: the target concentration of CO² in the atmosphere, measured in parts per million. For the past few years, conventional wisdom has called for a target of 450 ppm. But the most recent science points to something more conservative: A 350 ppm ceiling is required if, as the NASA climatologist Jim Hansen puts it, “humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted.” More than 80 developing nations and small island nations support the 350 target, as do many international environmental, human rights, and justice organizations.

What should happen: 350 ppm.

What will happen: It depends on grassroots pressure.

Grade for Predicted Final Compromise: B

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See the other parts of this series here