Leading Thinkers Speak Out on Bali Summit

The Guardian today features the views of a number of leading figures, each suggesting what will really boost the fight against climate change.

Kofi Annan:

They must sustain a two-pronged approach: mitigation and adaptation. The only suitable response is a binding international framework to curb greenhouse gas emissions beyond the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. We have to take steps to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities to the impact of climate change.

Richard Branson:

The most positive but realistic thing that governments could agree in Bali is to halt the cutting down of virgin tropical rainforests with immediate effect and agree a method by which the major economies, big multinationals and other carbon offset groups could pay for it. The next five years of carbon emissions from burning rainforests will alone be greater than all the emissions from air travel since the Wright brothers first flight in 1903 until at least 2025.

Leon Feurth, Security Advisor to Vice-Pres. Al Gore:

The single breakthrough that would be a game-changer is technological: it would involve an efficient method for trapping carbon dioxide as it is generated, before it can enter the atmosphere. But even such a breakthrough would have to be coupled with a profound change of mind about relying on massive consumption of carbon-based fuels.

Isabel Hilton, Editor, Chinadialogue and Open Democracy:

The most important breakthrough - which must form the basis of action - would be acknowledgment that policy must follow science, however difficult that is. We must agree that concentrations of greenhouse gases should not be allowed to rise above 400-450 parts per million, CO2 equivalent. Few leaders have had the courage to make this commitment. Without it, we are plagued by shifting targets and lack of clarity.

George Monbiot - Columnist and Author of "Heat"

There should be an equal allocation, worldwide, of the right to produce carbon dioxide. Our rations can be tradeable - people may use more than their share if they are prepared to buy it - but the revenue should be returned to those who use less. This system works because it is just, easy to understand, requires very little policing, and creates powerful incentives to use low-carbon technologies.

Sir Nicholas Stern

We need a global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with the rich countries leading the way on targets and trading. The rich countries should aim for at least 80% - either made directly or bought via a global mechanism for trading emissions. Trade in emissions has the benefit of keeping costs down and providing glue for the global deal.

In reading these views and the others in the Guardian article, I thought about which of them was right. The simple fact is they all are.