President Obama on Copenhagen Accord

President Obama on “PBS NewsHour”:

I think that people are justified in being disappointed about the outcome in Copenhagen. What I said was essentially that rather than see a complete collapse in Copenhagen, in which nothing at all got done and would have been a huge backward step, at least we kind of held ground and there wasn’t too much backsliding from where we were.

It didn’t move us the way we need to. The science says that we’ve got to significantly reduce emissions over the next – over the next 40 years. There’s nothing in the Copenhagen agreement that ensures that that happens.

President Obama on Copenhagen Accord

president-obama-on-copenhagen-accord-agreement

What – what did occur was that at a point where there was about to be complete breakdown, and the prime minister of India was heading to the airport and the Chinese representatives were essentially skipping negotiations, and everybody’s screaming, what did happen was, cooler heads prevailed.

And we were able to at least agree on non-legally binding targets for all countries – not just the United States, not just Europe, but also for China and India, which, projecting forward, are going to be the world’s largest emitters.

So that – that was an important principle, that everybody’s got to do something in order to solve this problem. But I make no claims, and didn’t make any claims going in, that somehow that was going to be everything that we needed to do to solve climate change. And – and my main responsibility here is to convince the American people that it is smart economics and it is going to be the engine of our economic growth for us to be a leader in clean energy.

President Obama on Copenhagen Accord

And if we pass a bill in the Senate, reconcile it with the House, that says we are going to invest in wind energy and solar energy and we’re going to be the guys who are producing wind turbines, and we’re going to be the folks who are producing solar panels on rooftops, and we’re going to be the country that is retrofitting all its homes and businesses so that we are 30 percent more energy-efficient than we are right now, that produces jobs that can’t be exported; it reduces our dependence on foreign oil; it is good economics; it will increase our exports – oh, and by the way, it also solves the climate problem. And that is, I think, an argument that I’m going to be making not just next year but for several years to come. Read more….

COP15 COPENHAGEN ACCORD

COP15 Copenhagen Accord – “A Copenhagen Accord” it is – an agreement drawn up Friday night by leaders from the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa has been recognized Saturday morning by the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP15 in Copenhagen.

COP15 COPENHAGEN ACCORD

An agreement dubbed the Copenhagen Accord drawn up by a limited group of countries Friday night was formally accepted by the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) during a closing session on Saturday morning, Reuters reports.

“The conference of the parties takes note of the Copenhagen Accord,” says a final decision.

The text is still strongly debated, and it remains to be seen how many countries will sign on to the Copenhagen Accord.

According to Danish daily Berlingske, the COP15 President, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, expresses satisfaction:

“I am satisfied. We have achieved a result. Now nations will need to sign on, and if they do so, they will support what has been agreed (in the Copenhagen Accord). This will have effect immediately.”
(Photo: Scanpix/AFP – http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=3070)

COP15-COPENHAGEN-ACCORD

Taking note of the countries who drafted and brokered the Copenhagen Accord we see a core team that establishes huge polluting countries as anchor points for ongoing development of control mechanisms on each Continent to reduce Greenhouse Gases that contribute to climate change – the omission of the European Community in this process is particularly of note – Editor.

COP15 COPENHAGEN ACCORD

Several developing countries, including Bolivia, Cuba, Sudan and Venezuela, bitterly protested the deal and said it is unacceptable because it lacks specific targets for reducing carbon emissions. Decisions are made by consensus in UN climate negotiations.

After failing to resolve the impasse during an all-night session, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced a break for consultations with UN officials.

Obama appeared to have salvaged the faltering talks Friday when he declared a “breakthrough” with China, India, Brazil and South Africa. But the three-page document they agreed on ran into trouble in the plenary where some delegates denounced it because it was nonbinding and set no overall target for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Sudan’s delegate, Lumumba Di-Aping, said it would condemn Africa to widespread deaths from global warming and compared it to Nazis sending “6 million people into furnaces” in the Holocaust. The African Union, however, backed the deal and his statement was denounced by other delegations.

British Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said the UN faced “a moment of profound crisis” if it did not approve the deal.

Obama’s day of hectic diplomacy produced a document promising 30 billion dollars in emergency aid in the next three years and a goal of channeling 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to developing countries with no guarantees.

The emerging outcome was a disappointment to those who had anticipated the Copenhagen Accord would be turned into a legally binding treaty. Instead, it envisions another year of negotiations and leaves myriad details yet to be decided.

It includes a method for verifying reductions of heat-trapping gases — a key demand by Washington, because China has resisted international efforts to monitor its actions.

It requires industrial countries to list their individual targets and developing countries to list the actions they will take to cut global warming pollution by specific amounts. Obama called that an “unprecedented breakthrough.”

If the countries had waited to reach a full, binding agreement, “then we wouldn’t make any progress,” Obama said. In that case, he said, “there might be such frustration and cynicism that rather than taking one step forward, we ended up taking two steps back.”

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the deal would represent “a major step forward.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a leading proponent of strong action to confront global warming, gave the Copenhagen Accord grudging acceptance, but said she had “mixed feelings” about the outcome and called it only a first step.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the deal was “clearly below” the European Union’s goal.

“I will not hide my disappointment,” he said.

But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was positive, saying “a year ago nobody thought this sort of agreement was possible.”

The document said carbon emissions should be reduced enough to keep the increase in average global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels.

Obama had planned to spend only about nine hours in Copenhagen as the summit wrapped up. But, as an agreement appeared within reach, he extended his stay by more than six hours to attend a series of meetings aimed at brokering a deal.

(Source: http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=3069)