What does the IEA say?

Today, we met with the Ambassador Richard Jones and Philippe Benoit, Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Since Climate Change is caused in large part (60%) by the energy sector, he dealt specifically with Global Warming. These were some of the suggestions he posed to our group. He emphasized the role that we, “the future generation,” needed to play instead of relying on the generation in power. With over 7 billion people who create over 30 billion tons of CO2 a year, there is no choice but to act now!

What the government needs to do

·         Reduce fossil fuel subsidizes!

Focus in on…

·         Electricity

·         Transport

·         Building Efficency

·         Industry

What Can You Do

·         Be Aware

·         Change Starts at Home

·         Influence Those Around You

·         Share and Communicate

·         Get Involved

Difficulties

·         Economic Development (reliance on fossil fuels, difficulties with change, people see tradeoff between environmental and economic efficiency).

·         Growing Population

·         Historically powerful countries were also large emitters

·         Emerging emitters

Political Change

·         Needs to be a by-partisan topic

o   Similar to the issue of gay rights which has now been adopted, in many cases, by both parties.

 

Keys to International Negotiations

·         Understand where they are coming from

·         Understand where they perceive you are coming from