WRI Insights

Rio de Janeiro is a leader among the Brazilian cities aggressively promoting low-carbon development. In 2011, the city passed a landmark [climate change law](http://www.aspasiacamargo.com.br/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=232:lei-nd-52482011-de-mudancas-climaticas&catid=75:como-vereadora-leis&Itemid=234) with a target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 8% below the business-as-usual (BAU) emissions scenario by 2012, 16% by 2016, and 20% by 2020. Now Rio is conducting a GHG inventory for 2012, the first target year under its climate change law. The inventory will measure the city’s emissions against its 8% reduction target for 2012, and assess the effectiveness of GHG mitigation actions implemented so far. On July 2, the city government of Rio invited me and my colleagues from the [Greater London Authority](http://www.london.gov.uk/) and the [Federal University of Rio de Janeiro](http://www.coppe.ufrj.br/english/) (COPPE) to a [seminar](http://cvasrio.blogspot.com/2013/07/1-seminario-internacional-sobre.html) to share our experiences in conducting GHG inventories and to discuss Rio’s 2012 inventory. At the seminar, Nelson Moreira Franco, Director for Climate Change Management and Sustainable Development for the City of Rio, stressed that GHG inventories help identify emission sources and provide scientific evidence on GHG levels, so it is extremely important that the city gets it right. To me, the seminar covered four important items:

Fires are flaring up once more on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. [Media reports](http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/haze-from-indonesian-fires-returns-to-malaysia/) in the region indicate that the resulting smog has already reached unhealthy levels over parts of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Brazil’s economy has been booming. During the past decade, it grew from the ninth to the sixth-largest in the world. While this growth has brought many socioeconomic benefits, it’s come with a downside: significant environmental impacts. Brazil has the highest rate of [deforestation](http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/07/27/are-your-cheeseburgers-causing-deforestation) worldwide, while [pollution](http://www.economist.com/node/21533415) threatens the country’s drinking water supply. Despite a decrease in national greenhouse gas emissions of late, agriculture emissions and energy demand are still rising.

Historically, the world has talked about climate change primarily as an environmental issue. We focus on the amount of [greenhouse gas emissions](http://www.ghgprotocol.org/about-ghgp) in the atmosphere, rising seas, climbing temperatures, and other hard data. While this narrative is important, it’s missing a [critical component](http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/05/climate-change-adaptation-put-local-communities-first) — people. After all, communities everywhere will be affected by climate change’s impacts. Those in impoverished, developing nations will likely be hit hardest. That’s why it’s necessary to talk about climate change not just as an environmental issue, but also as an issue of climate justice focused on the way in which people, especially the most vulnerable, are being affected.

Extreme weather and climate events such as storms, floods, droughts and wildfires visibly impact not only our communities and livelihoods, but also our resources and related infrastructure. In its latest report, [U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather](http://energy.gov/downloads/us-energy-sector-vulnerabilities-climate-change-and-extreme-weather), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) warns that domestic energy supplies are likely to face more severe disruptions given rising temperatures that result in extreme weather events. The report accurately outlines the risks climate change poses to the energy sector in the United States and serves as a wake-up call on this critical issue, which I highlighted in my [testimony](https://www.wri.org/publications/testimony-american-energy-security-and-innovation-assessment-north-americas-energy) before the Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year.

In January 2013, the [Forest Carbon Partnership Facility](http://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/) approved USD $3.6M to fund Cameroon’s [Readiness Preparation Proposal](https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/sites/forestcarbonpartnership.org/files/Documents/PDF/Feb2013/Cameroon%20final%20R-PP-English-January%202013.pdf)—a roadmap detailing how Cameroon will develop a national REDD+ strategy to help protect its forests. Cameroon, like many other REDD+ countries, now faces the challenge of delivering on commitments made in its Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP). Doing so will require significant efforts to address [historical forest sector challenges](http://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/OccPapers/OP-57.pdf), including weak governance. I recently participated in the National Dialogue on REDD+ Governance in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where these challenges were at the top of the agenda. The Dialogue, co-sponsored by [Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme-Cameroon](http://www.bioresources.org/programmes/biodiversity-conservations/) (BDCPC), Cameroon Ecology, the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection, and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED), and WRI’s [Governance of Forests Initiative](http://www.wri.org/project/governance-of-forests-initiative) (GFI), provided a forum for government and civil society members to talk frankly about strengthening governance as part of Cameroon’s REDD+ program.

While manufacturing is a critical part of the U.S. economy, it’s struggled over the last several years—both financially and environmentally. Overall U.S. manufacturing employment [has dropped](http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/asm/) by more than one-third since 2000. Meanwhile, U.S. industry—of which manufacturing is the largest component—still [uses more energy](http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/index.cfm#consumption) than any other sector and serves as the largest source of [U.S.](http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/Downloads/ghgemissions/US-GHG-Inventory-2013-Chapter-2-Trends.pdf) and [global](http://www.ecofys.com/files/files/asn-ecofys-2013-world-ghg-emissions-flow-chart-2010.pdf) greenhouse gas emissions. The good news is that energy efficiency can help U.S. manufacturing [increase profits](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421500000264), [protect jobs](http://are.berkeley.edu/~dwrh/CERES_Web/Docs/UCB%20Energy%20Innovation%20and%20Job%20Creation%2010-20-08.pdf), and lead the development of a low-carbon economy. The Midwest’s pulp and paper industry is a case in point: New WRI analysis finds that the pulp and paper sector—the third-largest energy user in U.S. manufacturing—could cost-effectively reduce its energy use in the Midwest by 25 percent through use of existing technologies. **These improvements could save hundreds of thousands of jobs, lower costs, and help the United States achieve [its goal](/news/2013/02/new-report-identifies-pathways-us-administration-reduce-emissions) of reducing emissions by 17 percent by 2020.** As the White House [moves to cut carbon dioxide pollution](/news/2013/06/first-take-looking-president-obamas-climate-action-plan) in America, energy efficiency improvements in Midwest pulp and paper mills are a tangible example of the win-win-win emissions-reduction opportunities in U.S. industry.

This has been a big week for U.S.-China collaboration on climate change. Yesterday the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group (CCWG), which was established in April by the [Joint Statement on Climate Change](http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/04/207465.htm), presented their [report on bilateral cooperation](http://www.state.gov/e/oes/rls/pr/2013/211842.htm) between the two countries. Not only does it lay out actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a close reading sheds light on important themes for the future of U.S.-China collaboration on climate change.

Following record-breaking air pollution across Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, ministers from five Southeast Asian countries will meet in Kuala Lumpur this week for urgent talks on combating the haze.

Ministers from five Southeast Asian countries gather in Malaysia next week for urgent talks on combating haze. The meeting follows the recent fires in Sumatra that produced record-breaking air pollution across parts of Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. As this 15th meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution kicks off, in-depth analysis of the patterns and causes of the fires continues. Hopefully the recent crisis will help ensure this meeting is more productive than the previous 14 gatherings, and will move the region towards addressing the root causes of the fires and haze.