As the climate negotiations at Copenhagen get closer we are starting to get bombarded by lobbying and academic reports.

Earlier in the year it had been suggested that no more that 750 billion tonnes of carbon can be released between now and 2050 if the world is to have a 2-in-3 chance of staying within the 2 degree rise.

Researchers in Germany have calculated what it would mean if this amount of carbon was shared out fairly. Their findings make uncomfortable reading for the developed world. The USA would use up its ‘allowance' in 6 years, the European Union in 12 years, China in 24 and India in 88.

Key discussions at Copenhagen will include the speed at which developed countries are willing to decarbonise and the amount of money they are willing to put on the table to help poorer countries improve their living standards using low-carbon technology.

It is likely that the impact of this new piece of research will be limited. Politicians will enter the negotiations with emission reduction targets based on what they believe are possible domestically. They will not be willing to sign-up to a formula that takes the decision out of their hands even if it is rationale and fair. 

The domestic political argument will be even harder to win due to the complexity of climate science. Another report this week suggested that global temperatures could decrease over the next 10 years due to tidal changes despite the acknowledged impact of increased carbon in the atmosphere.

Creating trust

I think that the vast majority of people in the UK are willing to make changes that will benefit the environment providing they truly believe that their efforts are valid and not just a flimsy piece of propaganda. 

For instance, the public has proved increasingly willing to sort their waste for recycling. When they then hear that their careful sorting has ended up in ‘toxic ships' in far flung places such as China and Brazil they then legitimately question why they bothered.

To overcome this scepticism it is good to hear that the UK will be repeating an experiment carried out in Seattle which put tracking devices on pieces of rubbish to see where they ended up. This could be a great way for local authorities to provide more confidence in their recycling services as well as creating interesting media stories around what happens to our rubbish once we have chucked it away.

Carbon connections

On Thursday I went to an interesting debate about a new report commissioned by Vodafone. Carbon Connections looks at the impact mobile technology could have on reducing carbon and reflects the growing level of sophistication in the debate around policies for carbon reduction.

To me the report highlighted the importance of trying to better manage periods of peak energy demand. The UK only has many of its most polluting power stations to meet periods of peak demand, technology can be used to even out the way we use energy and this could have a significant impact on our carbon emissions without impact upon our quality of life. 

One of the biggest barriers to implementing these policies is to overcome the public's ‘big brother' fear of energy companies regulating power use in their home more closely.

Climate Squad

My constant mantra at Global Action Plan is ‘speed and scale'. To have any impact we must deliver our community-based projects on a significant scale and quickly. This is far easier said then done. 

This week we ran our first Climate Squad training event for 18-24 year old volunteers. It was a massively diverse group of young people who came to the event with different expectations and needs.

By all accounts our staff handled the complexity brilliantly and the feedback was largely very positive. What is clear is that we have to refine the process, probably by running more smaller-scale events better focussed on individual needs. 

This is more time consuming and costly making it difficult to achieve scale quickly. Trying to balance scale and quality is our perpetual challenge and it is clear that the Climate Squad is right at the start of this process.