On June 25th next Torontonians may as well stay home and watch the World Soccer Championships (which they might well have watched at work!)  On that day the central Toronto financial district is shuttered and barred as a security measure protecting delegates to the G8/20 Summits from environmental protesters, amongst others.

A coalition of North American environmental groups had a significant part in generating pressure on Prime Minister Harper to put climate change on the Agenda of the G8 and G20 summits.  Now the Canadian Government has stated that it will be “on the table”, slang for “on the agenda”. This success of environmental groups to a degree reflects the wish of the Canadian public that its government give priority to the issue in its dealings with other national governments.

The coalition’s efforts were assisted by statements by world leaders from the European Union, Mexico and the United Nations. The final push may well have been a telephone conversation between Harper and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, on the very day a spokesperson for the Canadian Government confirmed that climate change was on the agenda. 

Why was it not on the agenda of the G8 and G20 summits in the first place?  Admittedly the prime concern that all G8/20 governments wished to discuss was the uncertain nature of the economic recovery, and the need to wean national economies away from government stimulus packages that produce large fiscal deficits. It could well be argued that the investment needed to make progress towards reduction of carbon emissions is a legitimate topic in any international thinking about the economy. Considering that Canada is behind other G8 countries in investing in green innovation and infrastructure, the summit could have created an international strategy for encouraging and sharing in the benefits of this type of investment.

In explaining why climate change was not initially on the summit agendas, Prime Minister Harper referred to the existing UN mandated meetings and process that deals with the issue.  Really none of these initiatives has proved capable of forcing UN members to recognize the need for immediate action to fight combat climate change.

 UN initiatives really date from the Earth Summit of 1992, which led to a UN international environment treaty, known as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Since 1992 the UN agency charged with the implementation of this Convention has sponsored many meetings, involving both representatives of national governments and environmental experts.

Although it will probably be eclipsed by future developments, the Kyoto Protocol is the present international instrument that sets out the responsibility of nations to fight climate change. The problem is that some of the largest polluting countries, such as the United States, have not ratified the Kyoto Convention, and, amongst the countries that have, including Canada, few will achieve the reduction targets of Kyoto.

 The most important initiative is the Copenhagen Accord on Climate Change that resulted from the 2009 Copenhagen Conference. The countries participating in this Conference agreed that a further Conference will take place in December in Mexico City, a meeting that may result in substantial progress. 

Although a necessary and valuable contribution, initiatives at the level of United Nations bureaucracy, cannot tackle the issue with the urgency that is necessary. No quick resolution will come from the numerous and complex diplomatic and technical meetings. Decisions and actions at the top are required. Hence the necessity of the item being on the G8/20 Agendas.

Forourgrandchildren welcomes the inclusion of climate change on the G8/20 agenda.  Now our concern is that the leaders at these summits will conclude that climate change is a complex political, technical and scientific issue, and give only lip service to the need to address its potential risks.