 |
 |
Copenhagen, 19 December 2009. According to the analysis of the environment and development organization Germanwatch, the Copenhagen summit which finished today failed to achieve its goal. "More than 120 heads of government agreed – climate protection is one of the hugest challenges of the century. Eloquently they swore at the summit: now the time to act has arrived".
"The results of the climate summit stand incongruously next to this", said Christoph Bals, Policy Director at Germanwatch. "Firstly, the ambition of the agreement doesn’t add up. We are closer to a path to 3.5 degrees temperature increase than 2 or even 1.5 degrees. Secondly concerning the financing pledges for 2020 of 100 billion dollars for climate and rainforest protection, it is not ensured that this won’t simply be generated through the relabeling of financing for poverty eradication. Thirdly, it is also not clear whether the USA, China and other emerging economies will be bound by a legally-binding agreement in a few months. Herewith it is ensured that climate protection is moving in the right direction worldwide – but the speed is far to slow. We need to improve this in the next few months".
"Ultimately, the negotiating poker failed due to the misguided strategy pursued by central actors", criticized Bals: "The USA and China didn’t adopt a leadership role. And the EU couldn’t fill the gap this time. Additionally the EU and the USA made a big mistake by not making their offers for long-term financing, coupled to conditions, right at the start of the negotiations. For this reason, huge mistrust arose among the developing countries and emerging economies whether these pledges made in Bali in 2007 would be upheld. Accordingly, they moved forward slowly".
Bals also criticized the approach of the Danish Presidency: "As conference chair, the Danish Premier, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, consistently endangered the negotiating process with a plethora of strange formal mistakes and undiplomatic approaches. The countries who wanted to hold up the process, exploited this repeatedly in order to slow down the process for procedural reasons".
In total the summit didn’t unleash that which the Danish Presidency had demanded: "Copenhagen only became Hopenhagen on the billboards", confirmed Bals.
Further information:
Contact: