All the leaves are brown

All the leaves are falling. Chestnuts are roaming the streets more than tiny Yorkshire teacup terriers (all the rage among the 55 -75 set) and yet the sky is still blue and the sun is shining in a city that’s built for rain, made for it, and traditionally drenched by it. What I want to know is: Do I owe this spell of fine weather to climate change?
Very well could be… Few still debate the issue (i.e. see one Indian Environment Minister), science says it has decided and more recently an appellate court in New York has enrolled climate change into the parole of the judges as a decision has expanded the potential for green house gas nuisance claims against the American electric Power Company. The decision on 21 September, while binding only in New York, Connecticut and Vermont, will encourage others to file similar “climate change nuisance” claims.
Barack Obama summarizing at the close of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, US said that leaders “will spare no effort to reach agreement in Copenhagen through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations.” The European Commission is closely following cases in Estonia and Poland that question the EU ETS the system that puts the cap setting process into action. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, while mulling whether an appeal would be necessary, “The Court rulings, which relate to the second phase of the system under the current 2003 legal framework, imply that the Commission has to take new NAP Decisions in respect of Poland and Estonia. The originally notified national allocation plans cannot therefore be deemed to be accepted as a result of today’s judgments. Consequentially and ahead of these decisions, those countries are not allowed to issue any additional allowances beyond those created in the EU ETS registry system.”  The Architects’ Council of Europe has released a statement following a report on Architecture and Sustainability stating that “The European Union is a leading force in this fight and it is working to establish ambitious actions, legislation and targets for its Member States and in the context of the global negotiations for the post-Kyoto period. It is a well-recognised fact that the best and most accessible way to achieve significant improvements in energy efficiency is to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, both new and existing.” A synthesis report headed by the University of Copenhagen and published by the International Alliance of Research Universities has detailed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009 (COP15) as step in developing a global response to the threat of climate change caused by human activities. Since the  Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in 2007 new knowledge has emerged that furthers understanding of the impacts of human influence on the climate and the response options and approaches that are available to tackle this complex issue.The organizations numerous. Sensibilised citizens vote for more green agendas and are sensitive to their impact on the world. Higher on the voters agenda in Germany this past weekend was climate change and its effects as a survey by Germany’s leading pollster Infratest-dimap showed. Climate change could make all the difference in the German  Bundestag elections, according to the national survey which was commissioned by the KlimakanzlerIn Gesucht campaign, in which over 9 out of 10 German voters (91 per cent) say that building a climate-friendly economy with millions of new jobs is important to their vote. “Climate change and green jobs are the sleeper issues in this election,” said Ricken Patel, director of global campaign network Avaaz. There are more Green MEPs in the European Parliament than ever before. The difference is yet to come. But the “sustainable change” door is definitely open.

Follow Alia Papageorgiou @eurocentrique or email her at alia@neurope.eu