Open Letter to Major Economies Forum (MEF)

On 28 March, President Obama announced the launch of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF). A preparatory session will be held at the US Department of State on April 27-28 in Washington, D.C., while Mexico will also host a MEF preparatory meeting. The preparatory sessions will culminate in a Major Economies Forum Leaders’ meeting, which Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to host in La Maddalena, Italy, in July 2009.

According to a White House announcement, the MEF will "facilitate a candid dialogue among key developed and developing countries, help generate the political leadership necessary to achieve a successful outcome at the UN climate change negotiations that will convene this December in Copenhagen, and advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions".

Invited are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Denmark, in its capacity as the President of the December 2009 Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the United Nations have also been invited to participate in the MEF.

The MEF may lead to major economies taking a joint position on energy policy, a goal that seems reflected in the name of this forum. Whilst energy policy is vitally important, a too narrow focus could come at the cost of other measures and policy alternatives. More specifically, a global cap-and-trade scheme may be not be effective and even be counter-productive in dealing with climate change, as described in a submission to the Australian Senate that I prepared recently.

Instead, a more comprehensive approach to climate change is appropriate. While different people may have different ideas as to what is most appropriate, joint concerns about a too narrow focus on energy politics are voiced in the following open letter:

OPEN LETTER TO MAJOR ECONOMIES FORUM ON ENERGY AND CLIMATE

Forum Participants,

We, a group of scientists, researchers and other people sharing a strong background and interest in climate change, are concerned that the Forum's sole focus will be on the politics of energy, as seems confirmed by the name of the Forum.

We believe that the scientific evidence strongly suggests that the approach to the climate change problem should be as broadly based as possible. As such, this should include the following four parts:

Signatories:

- John Nissen (jn@cloudworld.co.uk)
- Andrew Lockley (Former director of Friends of the Earth ENWI - UK)
- Peter Read (Hon. Research Fellow, Massey University Centre for Energy Research - NZ)
- Bill Fulkerson (Senior Fellow, Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, University of Tennessee)
- Dan Wylie-Sears
- Eugene I. Gordon
- John Gorman (MA (Chartered Engineer MIMechE, MIET - UK)
- Jim Woolridge (former Climate and Energy Campaigner, Earthwatch/Friends of the Earth, Ireland)
- Sam Carana (contributor to feebate.net - sam.carana@gmail.com)

References:

White House Announcement of Major Economies Forum (MEF)
White House Announcement of Mexico MEF Meeting
Department of State Annoucement of MEF
Open letter to Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri, IPCC chair (Gather)
Open letter to Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri, IPCC chair (Geo-engineering)
Open Letter warning Obama about cap-and-trade (Gather)
Open Letter to Major Economies Forum Participants (background)

This letter is published under a Creative Commons License