The Copenhagen Accord
In December leaders from around the world came together in the Danish capital Copenhagen to work towards new global agreement on how to tackle climate change. Billed as a key moment in the climate change story, it resulted in the Copenhagen Accord.
Limited Progress
Referred to by UN leader Ban Ki-Moon as ‘an essential beginning’, The Accord is not a legal document, and was not adopted by the conference as a whole, instead only a smaller group of nations signed up to it while the conference as a whole agreed ‘to take note’ of it. Furthermore, no clear limit on CO2 emissions was agreed. While these facts mean that for many the conference failed to deliver a satisfactory outcome the world two largest CO2 emitters (China and the US) are among the nations which adopted the Accord, meaning that it may represent limited progress rather than outright failure.
January Deadlines
All nations who have signed up to the Accord must report back to the UN by January 31st 2010. By then the ‘wealthier’ nations in Annex 1, such as EU nations, USA, Japan and Australia must commit to cutting CO2 emissions while other nations must agree to stop emissions increases. In addition, Annex 1 nations have pledged an Annual $100bn to be paid to poorer countries to enable them to deal with the adaptation and mitigation challenges they face, although the specifics of how this payment will be collected and distributed are unspecified.
This extended deadline allows for leaders to consult with their own governments as to what is realistic. It also opens up much speculation, second guessing and posturing as nations try to decide on how deep they should cut emissions (- a game theorists paradise!)
2 Degrees
Another key element of the Accord is that all signatories have agreed to try to cap global temperature rises at 2 degrees above current levels. The implementation of the accord and the appropriateness of this cap are to be reviewed in 2015.
Implications
While businesses seeking clarity and certainty will be frustrated by the Accord, the targets to be established this January will provide the strongest indicators we can expect as to the direction of travel and the speed and extent of decarbonisation in the leading global economies.
However, the limited pace of progress underlines the unpalatable but essential message that carbon emissions reduction is only one side of the climate change battle. Adaptation will continue to be a major theme in the coming years as local, regional and national organisations attempt to make place-specific responses to this global challenge.
