Speech at Yale University

April 27, 2015

Delivered by Mason Ji

Is climate change real? What is the scientific consensus on the issue? These are questions

we see and hear often. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a body that

draws upon scientific experts from across the world to study the effects of climate change. In

2007, the IPCC found that concentrations of greenhouse gases, in particular, Carbon Dioxide and

Methane, have greatly increased because of human activity "far in excess of the natural range [of

greenhouse gas accumulation] over the last 650,000 year...and greatly departs from natural

global temperature trends."

The pertinent question now is not to whether or not climate change exists, or who is to

blame for the current situation of climate change, but rather, how the international community is

going to respond to climate change. The IPCC has warned that if a robust international emissions

reductions program cannot be enacted by 2020, there will be serious ramifications for the

environment and for the world economy. This is the international consensus.

Today, the Kyoto Protocol, which mandated uniform emissions cuts from all signatory

countries, is the only international climate change treaty in existence and is set to expire in

December 2015. The Kyoto Protocol is disliked, because countries did not like top-down legal

mandates imposed on them. At the 2009 Copenhagen climate change negotiations, the

Copenhagen Accords were adopted, undermined the Kyoto Protocol by establishing the "pledge"

system, in which each country pledges to reduce its emissions by a certain amount, but those

pledges are not legally enforceable. The pledge system is the current international framework for
climate change. In essence, each country is able to nominally pledge reductions, but is able to

renege.

If the international community cannot negotiate a new binding international climate

change treaty during the United Nations negotiations at the end of this year, then, for the first

time in three decades, there will not be a binding international treaty on climate change. This will

have profound implications for the ability of the international community to address climate

change in the future, as it would signal to all countries that the international decision-making

process has failed. 2015, therefore, is a crucial year for international efforts to combat climate

change. We are in a fight against time.

I have had the opportunity to work at the United Nations before. To me, the problem is

twofold. First, many countries do not want to reduce emissions, for fear that unilateral reductions

would hurt their economic development. Second, there is a lack of leadership in international

negotiations. Consensus building is difficult with 193 different voices, and countries are looking

at powerful and large emitting countries for leadership to direct negotiationswhich has been

absent.

In light of these problems, I propose a two-pronged solution for the international

community to consider and adopt. First, the US and China must come together to reach some sort

of consensus before the 2015 climate change negotiations in December. The US and China are

the two largest economies and the two largest emitters in the world, accounting for over 44% of

worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. The international community is waiting for a real effort

from the two countries to provide leadership to international negotiations. This means more than

just pledging bilateral emissions reduction goals, like they did in November 2014, it means

advocating for a new climate change treaty. This brings me to my second prong. To operate
within the currently accepted pledge system, the new treaty should make emissions pledges

legally binding. This treaty would allow each country to set its own emissions reductions goals

according to its economic constraints, but ensure that those reductions actually happen. This

treaty thus balances environmental protection and economic development. If the US and China

can throw their weight behind such a treaty, there is hope for the fight against climate change.

The impacts of climate change will come much quicker than many may expect. In less

than 20 years, according to the UN Environmental Programme, we will see increased conflict

and migration. Parts of the world becoming no longer inhabitable and armed conflict over water

and foodthe very things that are necessary for us to live on this planetwill become more

common.

Empathy and compassion are traits that make us human and define our humanity, and

guaranteeing people's access around the world to water and shelter is a basic human right that we

must safeguard. I am confident that with leadership under the US and China and the adoption of

a new climate change treaty, we can curb and work to reverse the devastating effects of climate

change. We must strive, seek, and not to failto protect the environment: our common home.

Thank you very much.