COP15 Last Day: Copenhagen Climate Change Summit Finale

If you're scratching your head wondering what exactly happened on the last day of the Copenhagen climate change summit (a.k.a. COP15 or Conference of the Parties 15) it's very understandable. If you've heard some news, the world leaders are hailing the conference a success, however many issues, rather I should say, most of the major issues remain vaguely addressed if not at all. In those terms the conference was a failure: no legally binding agreement and no emissions targets. Finger pointing remains the biggest trend in the news circuits. Indeed another conference is needed, but that has been the case for every major conference since the 1997 Kyoto conference. We've gone over COP15 week 1 and week 2, and now the Finale:


Brazil became the first developing country to contribute to funds for mitigation under the Kyoto Protocol, pending a successful agreement. Brazilian President Lula agreed that international monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) is necessary, but shouldn't interfere with nations' sovereignty. The pledge comes as a result of the $100B in aid the US promises for developing nations, which requires mandatory transparency. President Lula agreed: "Those countries that provide funds have the right to demand transparency." In the same afternoon a different Latin American President, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, accused US President Barack Obama of behaving like an emperor "who comes in during the middle of the night ... and cooks up a document that we will not accept, we will never accept."


President Obama's speech, on the other hand, was a call to action. He promised American action regardless of any outcome, but stressed that "we will be stronger if we act together." He continued the USA's plea to place a "mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and to exchange this information in a transparent manner" and without such accountability an agreement would be "empty words on a page." His plan: "Mitigation. Transparency. And financing. It is a clear formula - one that embraces the principle of common but differentiated responses and respective capabilities. And it adds up to a significant accord - one that takes us further than we have ever gone before as an international community." In closing he advised world leaders to "choose action over inaction; the future over the past - with courage and faith, let us meet our responsibility to our people and to the future of our planet."


Late Friday night US, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa had reached an agreement: the Copenhagen Accord. In it was removed the deadline for a legally binding agreement by 2010. There remains a 2C limit on global warming. It was unclear which of the remaining 192 nations agreed to the text as the COP15 website reports as of 1AM Saturday. Obama said that there was "much further to go" but was content with the foundation made for a global climate change pact. China's lead climate delegate Xie Zhenhua thought, "Everyone should be happy." Except that everyone really isn't. Climate change- change to be continued.

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