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Copenhagen Climate Conference - accord noted
Climate conference notes deal amid poor nation anger
Article published on the 2009-12-19 Latest update 2009-12-19 12:08 TU
A French delegate sleeps during all-night discussions at Copenhagen
(Photo: Reuters)
Delegates at the Copenhagen Climate Conference have agreed to "take note" of an overnight agreement by the US, China and about 20 other countries. Poor nations and green campaigners slammed the so-called "Copenhagen accord" as inadequate on Saturday and debate dragged on long after the summit was supposed to have ended.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon admitted that the agreement had failed to win global consensus and would disappoint many people.
"It may not be everything we hoped for, but this decision of the Conference of Parties is an essential beginning," he said. "Many will say that it lacks ambition. Nonetheless, you have achieved much."
US President Barack Obama called the agreement reached by over 20 countries a "meaningful breakthrough" but admitted that "progress is not enough".
But several delegates claimed the overnight agreement was a a deal among the elite. Big players, including the US, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and major European countries backed it but developing countries protested that they had been left out.
No queue to get into the Bella Center on Saturday morning but delegates were still waiting for agreement
(Photo: Rosslyn Hyams/RFI)
"It looks like we are being offered 30 pieces of silver to betray our people and our future," said Ian Fry of Tuvalu, a Pacific island whose existence is threatened by rising seas.
Sudan's delegate, Lumumba Stanislas Dia-ping, who chairs a bloc of 130 poor nations who wanted a 1.5°C limit on temperature rises, said the pact meant "incineration" for Africa and was comparable to the Nazi Holocaust.
The pact "is a solution based on values, the very same values in our opinion that funnelled six million people in Europe into furnaces," Dia-ping said, sparking protests from other delegates.
But Maldives delegate Mohamed Nasheed pleaded with delegates to back it, arguing that it could lead to a better agreement later.
Green campaigners have slammed the agreement as inadequate.
"Copenhagen has been an abject failure. Justice has not been done," said Friends of the Earth International chair Nnimo Bassey. "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 main points of the agreement are:
- A commitment to limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, but without targets for 2020 or 2050 and with no target year for a peak in carbon emissions;
- "Fast track" aid to poor countries of 21 billion euros for 2010-2012, inlcuding 7.6 billion euros from Japan, 7.4 billion euros from the European Union and 2.5 billion euros from the US;
- A goal of reaching 70 billion euros aid by 2020;
The deal states that a legally binding agreement should be adopted at a conference in 2010.
