|
In July 2008, Cabinet
agreed on an ambitious plan, setting a strategic direction for national
climate policy and doing a fair share in the international context. The
plan laid out government’s vision, strategic direction and framework for
climate policy (see the
media statement based on the Cabinet meeting, from the Department of Environmental Affairs and
Tourism's website. The Department asked ERC to project-manage the process, with
Harald Winkler as co-ordinator.
These outcomes have
implications at the national and international level. Nationally, LTMS
laid the basis for broadly supported, robust climate policy.
Internationally, it has provided scenarios that can inform negotiating
positions. (For a more detailed discussion of these, and fuller
background material, see the Project
report.)
The Cabinet outcome was
based on two years of intensive work, led by the Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism. From a process point of view, it is
important to note that a wide range of stakeholders approved the
LTMS
Scenario document and
accepted a Technical
summary . The scenarios were informed by the best available
scientific research. The Energy Research Centre coordinated four
research teams. They used inter alia energy and macroeconomic
models to explore the consequences of various policy interventions aimed
at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The process was independently
facilitated by Stefan Raubenheimer (see
Process
report), and resulted in scenarios, strategic options, mitigation
potentials and cost-effectiveness of different interventions.
The research produced
evidence-based scenarios, summarised in several documents, now available
online here:
|
