Even after all the effort, money, preparation, and people used to gather the world’s presidents, royalty and delegates from more than 120 countries, the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference didn’t yield a legally binding agreement.
This December featured a UN meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark intended to tackle the issue of climate change on a global and political level. Despite the proceedings in New York prior to Copenhagen, major unresolved disputes and disagreements between nations prevented smooth negotiations.
According to the UNFCC, the views of the U.S., China, and the European Union were the main obstacles that prevented the creation of a binding agreement.
“The reality of climate change is not in doubt I have to be honest, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now, and it hangs in the balance,” said President Obama while addressing other world leaders, negotiators, and UN delegates.
According to members of the UNICEF’s Climate Change Team, Kerry Constabile and Sue Lee, it is tough for UN discussions to occur because a hundred countries are involved and the same arguments reappear.
Managing and financing any planned initiatives are common problems as well because they raise questions such as who will lead the fight and who will pay.
“It’s tough to set the same carbon emission standards for every country because of the difference in lifestyles among people in developed and undeveloped countries, and those same undeveloped countries need room to industrialize, so they need to be allowed to raise their carbon emissions,” said journalist, political adviser for Singapore’s ASEAN branch, environmental policy expert, and professor Simon Tay.
President Obama touched upon these difficulties while suggesting a solution that may work only through ‘Mitigation’, ‘Transparency’, and ‘Financing’.
Mitigation would involve setting standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, setting targets and deadlines for each country according to their contribution to climate change.
Transparency would allow nations to check each other’s progress, or the lack of it. This would ensure that each nation that signs an agreement follows its demands.
Finally, financing would primarily help developing nations transition to using greener and cleaner energy and technology.
China, Brazil, and the EU put several similar plans forward, and other nations contributed to the discussions too; however, a consensus seemed highly impossible with conflicting interests.
Regardless the controversies, the weeks of negotiating did have highlights.
“We underline that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We emphasize our strong political will to urgently combat climate change in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,” states Article I of the Copenhagen Accord, released on December 18.
Besides agreeing to the fact that climate change is happening the accord also addressed what needs to be done.
Article II states, “We agree that deep cuts in global emissions are required according to science, and as documented by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report with a view to reduce global emissions so as to hold the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius”
Even though the Accord sounds promising, it is simply an international declaration. An official agreement has been delayed, and will hopefully be created at future Climate Change meetings scheduled this year and the next.
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