COP15: Copenhagen Summit

1st March 2010

Disappointment as world leaders fail to come to an agreement.

Overview
For two weeks 20,000 people from 192 countries worldwide including the biggest CO2 emitting countries China and the US gathered in Denmark for the Copenhagen summit on 7th December 2009 to mark the end of the 2007 UN climate talks in Bali to negotiate a plan to take action on the climate change as it threatens human society and the environment.

The summit was supposed to set a legally binding target agreed upon by all country representatives, instead they all decided to voice their own opinions not taking into account what others had to say.

Copenhagen Accord
To put a positive spin on the summit Gordon Brown along with US President Barack Obama and representatives from Brazil, China, India, and South Africa decided to draw up an agreement the Copenhagen Accord which can be read in full at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8278973.stm. The key points taken from the agreement are listed below:

• Developing countries must report how they will curb their greenhouse gas emissions to the UN by the 31st January 2010 which will be subject to international monitoring
• The developed countries must make a commitment to the UN that it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
• From 2010 – 12 the UN will give out $30bn to poorer nations who need funding for additional resources
• In 2015 the outcome and of the summit will be reviewed and an assessment will be made relating to the temperature being kept under two degrees C
• Reduce global emissions by 2050 and hold the climate temperature below two degrees C

Many green groups and charities based in the developing countries are sceptical about this agreement as setting targets which are not legally binding has no guarantee of succeeding.

The green groups and charities criticised the world leaders commitment to the summit and said they were more concerned over money and allowed politics to get in their way rather than concentrating on the matter itself, climate change.

Having failed to agree on how to curb green house emissions, the world leaders left - a disappointing result with no agreement to cutting global emissions by halve by 2050 and no concrete plan on saving the planet.

Green Peace UK
John Sauven, Green Peace UK, 'The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport. There are no targets for carbon cuts and no agreement on a legally binding treaty. 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'

For more information please visit:

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/what-we-do

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8278973.stm

http://www.electric.co.uk/...summit-outcome-12341523.html

http://www.decc.gov.uk/.../copenhagen.aspx