Bridging the divide

It remains to be seen whether the world will move beyond the very modest commitments taken in the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol and agree to a bold and ambitious global regime whose actions match the scale of the problem. [...] These countries are committed to fighting climate change to ensure that the most vulnerable people, communities, and countries on the planet are not overwhelmed by the changes that have already begun, are certain to continue and will accelerate if we fail to act quickly enough. [...] Section IV will explore the gap between Canada and the developing world in terms of responsibility for climate change, levels of poverty and development, and wealth, using a few examples to argue that at the present time it is unrealistic and unfair to expect Canada and China to have the same kind of commitments to tackle climate change. [...] India In June 2008, India released a climate change plan that significantly expanded the scale and breadth of its policies and activities to save energy and decrease the country’s impact on global warming.26 The plan was separated into eight “national missions” and included goals to: • Significantly expand the use of solar energy, including the production of solar electricity and the use of solar [...] In the context of climate change, applying the principle of CBDR means that it would be unfair and unrealistic to require developing countries to take on the same absolute, economy-wide emission reduction targets that developed countries have under the Kyoto Protocol, since developing countries still face many challenges in addition to climate change, including poverty reduction and meeting the ba