Today I decided to communicate my thoughts about a climate change convention coming up in just a few weeks in Europe. I make my living as a realtor, but that doesn’t mean that worldwide affairs do not concern me. Climate and its change is one of them.

From the 7th – 18th December this year Denmark is accommodating the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Participants hope to reach important decisions, primarily around a new framework for climate change mitigation beyond the year 2012. The beliefs on climate change differ alarmingly so not everyone is looking at this from the same angle. Views are from one extreme to another.

Major developments in climate change mitigation were anticipated when Barack Obama became president. What public is wanting to know is how can we move this change forward. The Kyoto protocol, regarded to be a springboard for conventions of this kind, is less and less thought of, even by environmentalists themselves.

While the protocol was decided in 1997 it is recognized that the need the agreements made need to be discussed again. By the year 2020 its is desired that GHG emissions will be reduced by 20% based on the 2005 figures. The Kyoto protocol called for a 5% decrease on the 1990 levels so the new figures are drastically higher. This lax approach toward the minimization schedule is being heavily criticized by some activists – as the mild conditions of Kyoto will effectively be loosened even further.

This concern is tied to another crucial area of discord. Large polluters such as South Africa and Brazil could see it’s economy remain basically intact, but the North could see a large impact. These southern countries are more influenced by climate issues as a result they believe the northern countries owe them. Northern countries admit that developing countries may need to manufacture higher emissions to literally fuel their growth (although some activists see such aggressive ‘slash-and-burn’ development as a dead end route anyway), but with the economic crisis and China’s emergence as a world power, countries like India and Brazil are less willing to make any sacrifices.

Another emotional problem inside the anti climate change movement is relevant to the emission trade. Having market rules that offset any negative economic blow of restrictions is also controversial according to opponents, who see this as an opportunity for the black market trade. To avoid this type of trade and the risk of climatic disaster, the opponents want to see more control given to local communities.

If your looking for open-minded decisions, then you likely to be disappointed with any conclusions made in Denmark. But maybe more crucial is the amassing of activists across the whole society, which can be seen nowadays. This means that there are more and more voices demanding change this year, and that can only be a fantastic thing.