Posted on 19 December
2009 | Copenhagen, Denmark
– The UN climate talks in Copenhagen were
inches away from total failure and ended
with an outcome far too weak to tackle dangerous
climate change, WWF said today.
“Copenhagen was at the
brink of failure due to poor leadership
combined with an unconvincing level of ambition”,
said Kim Carstensen, Leader of WWF’s Global
Climate Initiative.
“Well meant but half-hearted
pledges to protect our planet from dangerous
climate change are simply not sufficient
to address a crisis that calls for completely
new ways of collaboration across rich and
poor countries.”
Politicians around the
world seem to be in agreement that we must
stay below the 2 degree C threshold of unacceptable
risks of climate change – in theory. However,
practically what leaders have put on the
table adds up to 3 degrees C of warming
or more, according to WWF estimates.
“Millions of lives,
hundreds of billions of dollars and a wealth
of lost opportunities lie in the difference
between rhetoric and reality on climate
change action.”
Attention will now shift
to follow up negotiations which need to
fill out many details in the often vague
accord – and, on a more positive note, to
a host of initiatives by countries, cities,
companies and communities that are starting
to build low carbon economies from the base
up.
WWF analysed the conference
outcome against a 10 element scorecard,
finding that none of the objectives needed
to fulfil the political aim of keeping average
global warming below the widely agreed 2
degree C high risk level had been met, although
some had been partly fulfilled.
The draft Copenhagen
Accord is a long way from developing into
a legally binding framework for decisive
action on climate change.
“We needed a treaty
now and at best, we will be working on one
in half a year’s time,” said Carstensen.
“What we have after
two years of negotiation is a half-baked
text of unclear substance. With the possible
exceptions of US legislation and the beginnings
of financial flows, none of the political
obstacles to effective climate action have
been solved.”
The lack of clarity
is illustrated by a call for a global peak
in emissions “as soon as possible”, in contrast
to the 2007 call of the IPCC for emissions
to peak in 2017.
Emissions reductions
pledges remain far lower than what is required,
with a leaked analysis by the UNFCCC secretariat
showing a shortfall that would lead to 3
degrees C of warming even without considering
extensive loopholes.
“We are disappointed
but the story continues,” said Carstensen.
“Civil society was excluded from these final
negotiations to an extraordinary degree,
and that was felt during the concluding
days in Copenhagen.”
“We can assure the world,
however, that WWF and other elements of
civil society will continue engaging in
every step of further negotiations.”
