Copenhagen: Where do we stand?

"We're going to have to build on the momentum that we've established here in Copenhagen to ensure that international action to significantly reduce emissions is sustained and sufficient over time. We've come a long way but we have much further to go."
- Barrack Obamam


US President Barack Obama has reached what he called a "meaningful" deal with China, India, Brazil and South Africa on climate change.But according to John Sauven of GreenPeace UK- there were no targets for carbon cuts, the Copenhagen conference does not set specific emission reductions and is not legally binding. In his words "it seems there are too few politicians in this world capable of looking beyond the horizon of their own narrow self interest."


The NGO world has had a similar reactions to the summit deeming it a failure.


To summarize - what came out of the summit (hardly!)

• No reference to legally binding agreement
• Recognises the need to limit global temperatures rising no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels
• Developed countries to "set a goal of mobilising jointly $100bn a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries"
• On transparency: Emerging nations monitor own efforts and report to UN every two years. Some international checks
• No detailed framework on carbon markets - "various approaches" will be pursued

The summit did not even meet the modest expectations that were set by the 


leaders. More on our analysis of what did and did'nt happen at the summit......

United Nations Climate Change Conference Dec 7-18 2009 The drama continues…..

Last Sunday, the chilling news that climate change talks could break down completely led to apprehension in the Danish capital and around the world.

Negotiators and ministers from 192 countries took the day off from formal talks to discuss the looming possibility that they could fail the world in the search for an agreement to prevent disastrous climate change.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Premier Wen Jiabao,  made it clear that they were not going to come in at the end of the talks to crack the fine details, they would agree only if the industrialized world was ready for a deal by December 16. Many industrialized countries remained firm in their stand that Kyoto Protocol must die and emerging economies must undertake international obligations under one name or the other regardless of their historical burden of emitting greenhouse gases, or the lack of it.

The negotiations continued and so did the drama. The heart of the Danish capital was taken over by environmentalists and anti-capitalist demonstrators on a 6km march to the venue of the ongoing UN conference. Also, Island nation Tuvalu led a group of developing countries in a walkout last Wednesday, forcing an unprecedented closure of the conference for a few hours.

Tuvalu and other small island nations - most vulnerable to rising seas as a result of climate change - wanted a far stronger treaty out of Copenhagen than is currently being considered. When, at the start of the morning's plenary session, the chair did not take up the Tuvalu proposal in this regard, the Pacific nation's representative led some other developing countries in a walkout, forcing a halt to the session.

The walkout was the most dramatic demonstration of developing countries' frustration that rich nations are unwilling to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases.

These differences continue to stall the negotiations and a possible global treaty to combat climate change. We will be monitoring the news closely as is everyone else.

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