COP15, Copenhagen, The wrap-up
The Toothless Tiger…
“Consensus and Egalitarianism”, are hard to find.
The evening of the final day
Tim Jones climate policy officer from World Development Movement, “This summit has been a complete disarray from start to finish, and now appears to be culminating in a shameful and monumental failure that will condemn millions of people around the world to untold suffering. The leaders of rich countries have refused to lead and instead sought to bribe and bully developing nations to sign up to the equivalent of a death warrant.”
Obama seeks another meeting with China’s representative Wen.
Mid evening
Indian minister for the environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, “We are close to seeing a legally non-binding Copenhagen outcome after 36 hours of gruelling, intensive negotiations.”
Sky News reports a “meaningful agreement” with China, India and South Africa.
A Downing Street official says, “there’s been more movement this evening and we’re hopeful a deal can be done tonight. Final details are still being nailed down but we are now confident we can get the two degree target agreed.” “The time has come to get off the sidelines and shape the future that we seek”
“I believe what we have achieved in Copenhagen will not be the end but the beginning”
As we head into a long night session
Barack Obama, speaks during the plenary session at the Bella centre in Copenhagen on the final day of the COP15 UN climate change conference. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Obama, “Everybody’s taking as aggressive actions as they can.” “The most important thing I think we can do…is to build some trust between the developed and developing countries.” “Getting out of that mindset and moving towards the position where everybody recognises that we all need to move together.” “This is hard within countries, it is going to be even harder between countries”
Obama, “we need to strive for a more binding agreement over time.”
Tim Jones, climate policy officer at the World Development Movement, “This summit has been in complete disarray from start to finish, culminating in a shameful and monumental failure that has condemned millions of people around the world to untold suffering. The leaders of rich countries have refused to lead. They have failed the poorest people in the world and history will judge them harshly because rich countries are trying to blind us to the fact that they have not offered the emissions cuts that science and justice requires. To say that this deal is in any way historic or meaningful is to completely misrepresent the fact that this deal is devoid of real content. These talks have been darkened by rich countries trying to save face, but not the climate. Rich countries have caused this problem and now they are trying to blame developing countries for stalling the talks because they are standing up to these insulting and outrageous bribes. The very survival of some of these countries depends on the outcomes of these talks but rich countries cannot see beyond the survival of business as usual.”
Obama praises five leaders, Meles (Ethiopia), Wen (China), Singh (India), Lula (Brazil) and Zuma (South Africa). And called the deal on the table “an important milestone” also admitting “This progress is not enough.” “We have come a long way but we have much further to go.” “We must draw on the effort that allowed us to succeed here today.” “We must bridge old divides and build new partnerships.” “The time has come to get off the sidelines and shape the future that we seek.” “I believe what we have achieved in Copenhagen will not be the end but the beginning.”
Obama, most significant is the “shift in orientation” with developing countries voluntarily offering emmision cuts, “That’s what I think will end up being most significant about this accord.”
Asad Rehman, Friends of the Earth’s biofuels campaigner, “I think its a toothless document between 4 countries [It stood] being spun by the US as a success but in reality does the exact opposite.” “We wouldn’t call it a historic step.” “This is a tragedy for the people of the world and for the planet.” “The EU should have played a much more constructive role.”
Kate Horner, Friends of the Earth, “This is the United Nations and the nations here are not united on this secret backroom declaration. The US has lied to the world when they called it a deal and they lied to over a hundred countries when they said would listen to their needs. This toothless declaration, being spun by the US as an historic success, reflects contempt for the multilateral process and we expect more from our Nobel prize winning President.”
Obama, “We know the targets will not by themselves get us where we need to be by 2050 but it’s a first step. The science dictates that even more needs to be done.”
Senior climate change advocacy officer for Christian Aid, Nelson Muffuh, “Already 300,000 people die each year because of the impact of climate change, most of them in the developing world. The lack of ambition shown by rich countries in Copenhagen means that number will grow.”
EU spokeswoman, “A deal is better than no deal. What could be agreed today, falls far below our expectations. But It keeps our goals and ambitions alive. It addresses the needs of developing countries. It was the only deal available in Copenhagen.”
Brazil’s climate change ambassador Sergio Serra, “It’s very disappointing I would say but it is not a failure…if we agree to meet again and deal with the issues that are still pending.”
John Sauven, Executive director Greenpeace UK, “It seems there are too few politicians in this world capable of looking beyond the horizon of their own narrow self-interest, let alone caring much for the millions of people who are facing down the threat of climate change.” “It is now evident that beating global warming will require a radically different model of politics than the one on display here in Copenhagen”
John Ashe, Chair of Kyoto Protocol talks, “Given where we started and the expectations for this conference, anything less than a legally binding and agreed outcome falls far short of the mark.”
Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, “The world’s nations have come together and concluded a historic if incomplete agreement to begin tackling global warming.” “President Obama and the rest of the world paid a steep price here in Copenhagen because of obstructionism in the United States Senate.”
John Lanchbery, Birdlife International, “It sounds very vague. There’s no next step, nothing to link through to how to get a final deal done.”
Lumumba Di-Aping, chief negotiator for the G77 group of 130 developing countries, “This deal will definitely result in massive devastation in Africa and small island states. It has the lowest level of ambition you can imagine. It’s nothing short of climate change scepticism in action.” “It locks countries into a cycle of poverty for ever. Obama has eliminated any difference between him and Bush.”
The Morning News
Low targets, goals dropped: Copenhagen ends in failure
Deal thrashed out at talks condemned as climate change skepticism in action
A week outline of a global deal reached leaves months of tough negotiations to come.
Day long efforts between 115 world leaders ends with Barack Obama and Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, brokering a political agreement.
The accord “recognizes” the scientific case for keeping temperature rises to no more than 2C but proposes no commitments to emissions reductions to achieve that goal.
Obama, “This progress is not enough.” “We have come a long way, but we have much further to go.”
Gordon Brown called it a success on five of six measures declaring it a, “vital first step,” going on to say “This is the first step we are taking towards a green and low carbon future for the world, steps we are taking together. But like all first steps, the steps are difficult and they are hard.” “I know what we rally need is a legally binding treaty as quickly as possible.”
It was unclear weather the deal brokered between China, South Africa, India, Brazil and the United States would be adopted by the full plenary of 192 nations. The deal commits to providing $30 billion a year to poor countries to adapt to climate change until 2012 and $100 billion yearly by 2020.
African nations had hoped for deeper cuts to hold the global temperature rise to 1.5C this century. All references to 1.5C in past drafts were removed at the last minute, the earlier 2050 goal of reducing global CO2 emissions by 80% was also dropped.
The agreement includes a forestry deal hoped to significantly reduce deforestation in return for cash. It lacked independent verification of emission reductions by developing countries that the US and others demanded.
Obama, In a press conference condemned the insistence of some countries to look backwards to previous environmental agreements. He said developing countries should be “getting out of that mindset, and moving towards the position where everybody recognises that we all need to move together”.
This was a reference to the split over ditching the Kyoto protocol and its legal distinction between developed and developing countries. Developing nations saw the move as an attempt by the rich world to wriggle out of its responsibility for climate change. Many blamed the US for coming to the talks with an offer of just 4% emissions cuts on 1990 levels. The final draft obligated no developing countries to make cuts.
Now, forests, technology, and finance agreements will be worked on individually, without strong leadership, the chances are that it will take years to complete.
Obama, “The time has come for us to get off the sidelines and shape the future that we seek; that is why I came to Copenhagen.”
Lumumba Di-Aping, chief negotiator for the G77 group of 130 developing countries remarked the deal had, “the lowest level of ambition you can imagine. It’s nothing short of climate change scepticism in action. It locks countries into a cycle of poverty for ever. Obama has eliminated any difference between him and Bush.”
John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, “The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport. Ed Miliband [UK climate change secretary] is among the very few that come out of this summit with any credit.” It is now evident that beating global warming will require a radically different model of politics than the one on display here in Copenhagen.”
Lydia Baker of Save the Children about world leaders, “They have effectively signed a death warrant for many of the world’s poorest children. Up to 250,000 children from poor communities could die before the next major meeting in Mexico at the end of next year.”
At the meeting of December the 14th, Sudan’s negotiator, Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, summed up the African position, saying, “We shall not participate in any negotiations until the issues of the Kyoto Protocol are discussed…that was one issue. The second issue is who draws up the outcome…We do not want the conference to adopt or present a draft that is not drafted by the parties to the convention. The third issue centres around the process, the transparency and the democratic right of equal participation of all member states who are parties to this convention.”
Climate Summit Ends
Delegates applaud as the Copenhagen accord is adopted after an all-night plenary meeting at the UN Climate Change Conference. Photograph: Reuters
Recognized but not endorsed by 193 countries we are looking at a new global climate change deal described by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as an “essential” first step
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon emphasized the agreement, now only three pages, must be made legally binding late next year.
The Convention finished at about 11.30am.
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