In 2015, you went to COP21 in Paris, where the Paris Agreement was ratified. What was your experience like at COP22 in Marrakesh?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\nThe most disconcerting news, of course, was the result of the U.S. election. At the start of COP22, there was a very positive spirit and a sense that what the Obama administration had put forth, the U.S. commitment to the Agreement, was going to follow forward with Hillary Clinton\u2019s election. Of course, less than one week into the talks, that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
A striking realization, for me, was the incredible achievement of the Paris Agreement in the first place. Being at COP22 and witnessing the meetings made me appreciate the complexity of the process. How mindboggling it is to have all of these countries come together and sign-off on such a commitment is truly incredible. It\u2019s so complicated to navigate that kind of governance process amongst 196 countries\u2014having each one speak to aspects of the agreement, to refine it, to sign off on it, and to continue to commit to work to implement it. History really was made in Paris with the signing of the agreement.<\/p>\n
The U.S. is a key player and heavy contributor of climate change issues and impacts and now there\u2019s the potential of them withdrawing from the agreement. When you have one country that plays such a critical role suddenly speak in a different tone, it can change the conversation.<\/p>\n
That being said, the president of the United Nations announced that morning that the Paris Agreement isn\u2019t held together by the U.S., and that other countries are committed to addressing climate change, regardless of the U.S.’s position.<\/p>\n
What were some of the concerns shared by the Canadian delegation after Trump\u2019s victory?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Canadian delegation did not comment on the U.S. election at that time. There wasn\u2019t a lot of information officially shared by Canada about the results of the election at the event. There was, however, a lot of speculation among many attending about how a new agenda for the U.S. might cause challenges in balancing industry and environmental demands in Canada.<\/p>\n
A common criticism of climate change agreements is that they make empty promises. Often, there\u2019s little accountability if targets aren\u2019t met. Do these agreements actually work? <\/strong><\/p>\nI have to believe that they can. The Paris agreement did require that countries ratify the agreement with their nationally determined contributions. Canada\u2019s commitment is 30 per cent reduction by 2030, which was the same target that Harper had adopted years before. So it\u2019s not any more ambitious than we\u2019ve seen in the past, and I do believe it is doable for Canada.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the nationally determined contributions countries have submitted as part of the agreement are still not capable of meeting the two-degree limited global warming that the nations had signed on for. With the commitments that have been brought forward, we\u2019re still looking at three degrees or more of warming.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the greatest challenge. COP22 meeting was about how to create a work program that would measure, monitor and create a framework to evaluate the nationally determined contributions, and then commit to reporting and ratcheting these commitments up. There was a big concern about transparency at the meeting, what a transparency framework looks like, and making sure that it\u2019s not just rhetoric, but that the countries are achieving, through a transparent, measurable means, what they\u2019ve committed to.<\/p>\n
What are some tangible results we\u2019ve seen from climate change reduction?<\/strong><\/p>\nWe\u2019re seeing cities around the world taking serious steps\u00a0to become more energy efficient, transition from fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I think that\u2019s what going to need to happen when you\u2019re talking about climate change. Vancouver is always an easy place to point to when you talk about climate action. It just adopted earlier in 2016, a commitment to rely on 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.<\/p>\n
The big sectors outside of industry that cities can address in partnership with provinces and the feds are buildings and transportation. It\u2019s going to take multi-jurisdictional partnership to address building codes and programs that can help cities adopt renewables, build green through the future and retrofit their older buildings. We need multi-jurisdictional programs that can help with mobility and transportation: electrifying the passenger-vehicle fleet, pushing on viable transit options for the future and thinking of innovative and fuel-switching opportunities for commercial transportation.<\/p>\n
There are countless examples and opportunities of this type of action in the U.S., too. Despite the new administration, states and local governments are still moving forward in lowering greenhouse gas emissions. And in so doing, many of them are looking to being energy independent, saving money on energy \u2014 and keeping what you do pay within the local economy. Addressing climate change in this way makes fiscal sense and that plays well to any public constituency.<\/p>\n
How does the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions help advance the global effort against climate change?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe more I get to travel to these and other conferences, the more I recognize how unique PICS is. In 2008, B.C. became a leader in North America with its climate change commitments, including the Ministry of Environment\u2019s $94 million endowment, the largest in Canadian history, to the University of Victoria to create an institute that focused on climate change solutions.<\/p>\n
PICS is a partnership institute among B.C.\u2019s four research-intensive universities focusing on collaborative, innovative and applied research to address climate change. In 2015, PICS launched its Big Five research program. The program is framed around the five big greenhouse gas contributors\/sectors for the province.<\/p>\n
For example, one of the projects looks at energy efficiencies in the built environment. A second is exploring zero emissions transportation options for B.C.\u2019s future. Another is looking at carbon management and B.C.\u2019s forests. There\u2019s research that focuses on the liquefied natural gas industry. Finally, there\u2019s Project 2060, which is looking at hydroelectric grid integration with renewables and how we could extend that grid east-west to help Alberta, for instance, to offset some of it\u2019s coal-powered electricity. We\u2019ll get results in these big five areas over the next two to three years.<\/p>\n
In addition to its research program, PICS supports graduate students through fellowships and internships on climate change research. Since PICS started in 2008, we\u2019ve had more than 70 students graduate with specific climate change research knowledge that\u2019s very applied, solution-based and relevant to B.C. Now, many of those students are working professionals and are continuing to assist B.C. in leading on climate change in industry, local government and research.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next for the institute? <\/strong><\/p>\nI\u2019m hopeful that PICS\u2019 role will be further refined through the future to continue to create unique partnerships and multi-disciplinary approaches to addressing our biggest climate change challenges. I\u2019d like to see it become a sophisticated, strategic climate change convener, bridging the academic expertise with industry, non-governmental organizations and advocacy groups, working together to develop and implement, regionally and internationally, a lot of great solutions.<\/p>\n
This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sara Muir Owen was asleep halfway across the world when the U.S. election results started to roll in. She woke…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48282,"featured_media":113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1237],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-profile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sustainubc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}