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Climate
WWF and Climate Change: Influencing Policy
For over 20 years, WWF has been active at the national and international levels advocating policies to slow the pace of climate change and to help wildlife, ecosystems and people cope with the impacts. By drawing attention to the potential consequences of climate change and to the opportunities for action, we have helped build support for appropriate policy responses. Moreover, we have directly promoted climate change policy priorities consistent with our overall goal of protecting nature around the world.
One urgent policy priority is slowing climate change. Policies must rapidly shift the world away from higher carbon fossil fuels, particularly coal; and towards low- or no-carbon energy sources such as solar or wind energy. Where fossil fuels still are burned, carbon that otherwise would be emitted as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere instead must be captured and stored permanently. Policies must quickly improve the efficiency with which we use energy and encourage conservation measures. Deforestation and the degradation of forests, which contribute nearly a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, must be stopped.
A second area where policy action is urgently required relates to the disruptive consequences of climate change. Policies must be developed and implemented to address the impacts of climate change, some of which already are occurring. Priorities range from assessing potential impacts and response options; to assisting less developed countries in efforts to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
At the international level, WWF has continually promoted these policy objectives in international discussions related to climate change, including negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Those negotiations will reach a critical juncture at the end of 2009 when the parties to the UNFCCC meet in Copenhagen, Denmark. WWF is working hard to promote an effective agreement to dramatically reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and to respond to the growing impacts of climate change. For an overview of the positions WWF-US is taking with its counterparts in the international WWF network, see WWF Expectations for the Copenhagen Climate Deal (March 2009) [PDF]
Within the U.S., WWF is very actively engaged in efforts to shift national policies in a range of specific areas. For an overview of WWF's policy positions for the U.S., see American Leadership for the Global Climate Crisis, an issue brief released in early 2009 that discusses key areas where U.S. policy should be reshaped to address climate change.
At both the national and international levels, WWF is placing a special emphasis on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (often referred to as "REDD"). For a summary of the principles that should guide REDD policies and for a set of specific policy recommendations, see the WWF issue brief Getting Ready for REDD: Toward an Effective and Equitable Policy on International Forest Carbon (January 2009)[PDF].
For details on WWF's climate change policy publications, positions and activities, see our extensive additional resources:
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Keya Chatterjee
WWF US Acting Director, Climate Change Program"We have to learn how to develop in a way that decouples pollution from prosperity"
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