From Copenhagen With Love!

After years of negotiations we now have a declaration of will which does not bind anyone and therefore fails to guarantee a safer future for next generations, says WWF, while Reuters collects together other reactions to the deal which fell far short of the ambitions for the Copenhagen summit. It is Mexico’s turn to come up trumps.

Copenhagen, Denmark: by Kim Carstensen, the leader of WWF Global Climate Initiative:

“They tell us it’s over but it’s not. Copenhagen produced a snapshot of what leaders already promised before they arrived here.

“The biggest challenge, turning the political will into a legally binding agreement has moved to Mexico (where COP16 will meet in December 2010).

“After years of negotiations we now have a declaration of will which does not bind anyone and therefore fails to guarantee a safer future for next generations.

“What was good about Copenhagen was the level of national pledges for climate action in most countries.

“Politically, we live in a world that agrees to stay below the danger zone of two degrees but practically what we have on the table adds up to 3 degrees or more.

“Such a gap between the rhetoric and reality could cost millions of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars and a wealth of lost opportunities.

“We are disappointed but remain hopeful. Civil society will continue watching every step of further negotiations. The leaders have to get back to work tomorrow.

“Getting a strong outcome of the follow-up process will take a lot of bridge- building between rich and  poor countries. We expect that the Mexican hosts will be ideally placed to play that role.”

Source: www.wwf.org.au

By Reuters from Copenhagen (18 December 2009):

U.S. President Barack Obama reached a climate agreement on Friday with India, South Africa, China and Brazil. The deal outlined fell far short of the ambitions for the Copenhagen summit.

Here are reactions:

YVO DE BOER, HEAD OF THE U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE SECRETARIAT

“The mountain goes on and on, it seems. I do think we need to see how this text is received by the broader group of countries. It’s great that small group of leaders gets together and tries to advance the process. But ultimately the way things work here it has to be acceptable to every country.”

“If this makes it through the meeting in a couple of hours’ time then I see it as a modest success. We could have achieved more.”

EUROPEAN COMMISSION SPOKESWOMAN

“A deal is better than no deal. What could be agreed today, falls far below our expectations. But It keeps our goals and ambitions alive. It addresses the needs of developing countries. It was the only deal available in Copenhagen.”

BRAZIL’S CLIMATE CHANGE AMBASSADOR SERGIO SERRA

“It’s very disappointing I would say but it is not a failure…if we agree to meet again and deal with the issues that are still pending.”

“We have a big job ahead to avoid climate change through effective emissions reduction targets and this was not done here.”

HEAD OF CHINA’S CLIMATE DELEGATION, XIE ZHENHUA

“The meeting has had a positive result, everyone should be happy. After negotiations both sides have managed to preserve their bottom line. For the Chinese this was our sovereignty and our national interest.”

JOHN SAUVEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GREENPEACE 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.”

ROB STAVINS, PROF OF BUSINESS AND GOVT AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

“The most striking thing, it’s incredible, virtually unprecedented, is that heads of state sat down in a room together and did the negotiations themselves.”

“It’s less than many people had hoped for and expected even two weeks ago. What was needed was to bring the rapidly growing economies and that’s what was achieved. The deficiency we all knew from the time of Kyoto was that rapidly growing key emerging economies were not included.”

STEVE SAWYER, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE GLOBAL WIND ENERGY COUNCIL

“On the basis of drafts I’ve seen so far … standing on its own a political declaration like that doesn’t do much other than paper over the fact that that governments have failed to keep the promises they made to each other (in Bali, Indonesia two years ago at the launch of the two-year climate talks meant to agree a climate pact).”

JOHN ASHE, CHAIR OF KYOTO PROTOCOL TALKS UNDER U.N.

“Given where we started and the expectations for this conference, anything less than a legally binding and agreed outcome falls far short of the mark.”

“On the other hand though I’m a bit of a realist so I do realise that perhaps the bar was set too high and the fact that there’s now a deal – I haven’t seen the details I saw earlier versions I haven’t seen the latest one — the fact that there’s now a deal perhaps gives us something to hang our hat on.”

“I hope it sets the stage for serious work in 2010 so that we can conclude what we originally set out to do here in Copenhagen we can conclude that perhaps as soon as June, failing that by December 2010.”

TIM JONES, CLIMATE OFFICER, WORLD DEVELOPMENT MOVEMENT, ANTI-POVERTY LOBBY GROUP

“This summit has been in complete disarray from start to finish, culminating in a shameful and monumental failure that has condemned millions of people around the world to untold suffering.

“To say that this deal is in any way historic or meaningful is to completely misrepresent the fact that this deal is devoid of real content. It is actually meaningless.”

NNIMMO BASSEY, CHAIR OF FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL

“Copenhagen has been an abject failure. Justice has not been done. By delaying action, rich countries have condemned millions of the world’s poorest people to hunger, suffering and loss of life as climate change accelerates. The blame for this disastrous outcome is squarely on the developed nations.”

CARL POPE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SIERRA CLUB

“The world’s nations have come together and concluded a historic if incomplete agreement to begin tackling global warming. President Obama and the rest of the world paid a steep price here in Copenhagen because of obstructionism in the United States Senate.

“Now that the rest of the world, including countries like China and India, has made clear that it is willing to take action, the Senate must pass domestic legislation as soon as possible.

JOHN LANCHBERY, BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL

“It sounds very vague. There’s no next step, nothing to link through to how to get a final deal done.”

FRED KRUPP, HEAD OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND

“Today’s agreement takes the first important steps toward true transparency and accountability in an international climate agreement. The sooner the U.S. speaks through Senate legislation, the sooner we can set the terms of engagement for talks to come.”

INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR OF FRIENDS OF THE EARTH U.S. KATE HORNER

“This toothless declaration, being spun by the U.S. as an historic success, reflects contempt for the multilateral process and we expect more from our Nobel prize winning President.”

JAKE SCHMIDT OF THE NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL

The deal will “get big countries moving in the right direction” on reducing their carbon emissions.

Source: www.reuters.com