COP18 (01/12/12012) – Helena Wright, a researcher at Imperial College – London, describes her work looking into whether the discussions on adaptation finance are adequate.

She says youth delegations are working on pressing the EU to strengthen its emissions reductions targets to be in line with the science. She says the current 20% target for 2020 is completely insufficient, considering Europe’s historic responsibility for carbon emissions and that the EU has also reduced its emissions by 18%, although these are not all domestic reductions.

She describes the difficulties in communicating the need for more ambition, and says there is not enough dialogue between scientists and politicians, who she says are playing politics with the planet. She describes European youth-led campaigns and lobbying, but says the main problem is that there isn’t enough awareness about climactic tipping points – 2020 may be too late for finance pledges.