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Press release
Poznan, Poland, 12 December 2008. "The climate summit in Poznan has done nothing more than set the necessary formal conditions for the achievement in 12 months in Copenhagen of an ambitious global agreement for the period after 2012. At the same time it became clear that key players may lack the political will to actually achieve this kind of far-reaching global agreement", said the Klaus Milke, Chairman of the Board at Germanwatch, at the end of the 14 day negotiations.
In particular, many industrialized countries lack the readiness to seriously negotiate on the reduction of their emissions by 25-40% by 2020, compared to 1990. This reflects the guidance of the IPCC. Norway, the European Union and Switzerland are exceptions here.
Apart from this, all industrialized countries lack the willingness to enter into the necessary scale of financial and technological cooperation. This is, however, urgently necessary, because at the climate conference in Bali, 2007 the scale of measures for climate protection in the emerging economies and developing countries was made contingent on the extent of this cooperation.
This has already had consequences, which strain the ongoing negotiating process. The developing countries failed in an attempt to establish negotiations on an additional financial mechanism for the funding of the Adaptation Fund during the period up to 2012. Likewise, they did not succeed in anchoring in the conference's closing statement a "willingness to negotiate" on this kind of finance mechanism for the period after 2012. All industrialized countries had not prepared themselves for this important debate. Many developing countries expressed their great disappointment that their efforts to finally begin concrete actions were blocked by industrialized countries.
"The international 'climate train' is not on track. However, if the USA, China and the EU actually organize a 'green new deal' to save the economy and the climate, this can change in the next few months", commented Christoph Bals, Executive Director Policy at Germanwatch. "However, if these billions of dollars are invested not for but against climate protection, then our train will be well and truly derailed". Massive investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy and their necessary infrastructure can deliver a three-fold dividend. Firstly, they are very labour-intensive, creating jobs and boosting the economy. Secondly, the money saved on oil, coal and gas can be more sensibly used elsewhere. Thirdly, it would usher in the era of serious climate protection.
Simultaneously, ever more intense weather extremes are showing that support for the adaptation efforts of vulnerable countries is urgently required. Above all, these are the developing countries and small island nations. "We succeeded in getting the Adaptation Fund going. Apart from that, there were very constructive suggestions for risk management and international insurance models for those particularly at risk", commented Sven Harmeling, Senior Advisor for Climate and Development at Germanwatch. "However, all of this is only in preparation for the really wide-reaching decisions which we need to make next year in Copenhagen".
Next year running up to the Copenhagen
summit in December 2009, there will be an increasing number of negotiating
rounds, in which Germanwatch will be actively engaged.
For a detailed assessment of the
Climate Summit, see Briefing Paper: Between
Poznan and Copenhagen: The Climate Train in the "Valley of Death". Results
of the UN Climate Summit in Poland (January 2009)