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Most viewed in Environment
Barack Obama
“We know that this progress alone is not enough...we have come a long way but we know we have much further to go.”
The US president reflects on the Copenhagen deal
Felipé Calderón
“I know that this accord is far from what we expected and far from what the world needs.”
Mexico's president and the host of the next major UN climate conference acknowledges that there is a long way to go.
Xie Zhenhua
“The meeting has had a positive result, everyone should be happy.”
The head of China's delegation strikes an upbeat note.
Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping
“Gross violations have been committed today against the poor, against the tradition of transparency and participation on an equal footing by all nations and parties to the convention, and against common sense, because the architecture of this deal is extraordinarily flawed.”
The chair of the G77 reacts.
• The world should work to restrict global warming to 2ºC above pre-industrial levels.
The 2ºC has been the EU goal for many years, but the bloc had hoped for targets to lock countries into this goal. It wanted countries to aim to cut global emissions by 50% by 2050 and by 80%-95% for developed countries. The EU was disappointed on this score.
• Countries should take action to reduce emissions in line with science. Emission-reduction targets from developing countries and developing-country efforts, known as “nationally appropriate mitigation actions” (NAMAs), are set out in an annexe to the document.
The EU wanted the world to aim at actions that would cut emissions by at least 25% by 2020 (with 1990 as the reference year), in line with the lower estimated range given by scientists through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But pledges made add up to a reduction of just 18%.
• Least developed countries and those most vulnerable to climate change should get $30 billion (€21bn) “fast-start funding” over 2010 and 2012 to help them adapt to climate change.
The Copenhagen accord is within touching distance of the EU goals on fast-start finance. The EU thinks that the least-developed countries should get €15bn-€21bn in 2010-2012 and has promised to contribute €7.4bn ($10.2bn) of this total over three years. During the talks, Japan promised $5bn per year (€3.5bn) and the US promised $3.6bn (€2.5bn) in total. But some money needs to be found to make up the $1.2bn (€0.8bn) shortfall.
• Rich countries should mobilise to raise $100bn (€70bn) a year from public and private sources.
EU leaders agreed in October that the total bill could be around €100bn – €30 bn more than the estimate in the UN accord.
• Timelines: Early drafts of the declaration referred to reaching a binding legal agreement “as soon as possible” and no later than December 2010 at the next big climate conference in Mexico City. But this was dropped from the final text.
The EU wanted a clear timetable and promise to deliver a legally binding treaty, but failed to get this.
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