The UN climate summit has ended in Poznan, Poland, with delegates taking very different views on how much it has achieved. Western delegates said progress had been encouraging, although environmental groups claim that rich countries did not show enough ambition. Developing nations were also angry that more money was not put forward to protect against climate impacts.
The meeting is the halfway point in a two-year process aimed at reaching a deal in Copenhagen by the end of 2009. As envisaged at last year’s conference in Bali, that agreement is supposed to have two major elements - an expanded Kyoto Protocol-style deal committing industrialised countries to deeper emission cuts by 2020 and a longer-term agreement which will encompass all countries.
Martin Bursik, who assumed the EU Presidency in January 2009 said, "The conference enabled us to make real progress on every topic on the Bali roadmap." However, Tim Jones of the World Development Movement summed up the feelings of the many groups campaigning for environmental protection and poverty alleviation. "There has been disappointingly little progress on the agreement reached last year in Bali. Yet again the rich countries who carry the historical responsibility for climate change have failed to offer sufficient cuts."
There was great disappointment that the energy and climate deal reached by EU heads of state in Brussels had been watered down at the last minute. The only concrete decision of any major significance involved the management of the Adaptation Fund, which gathers money to help poor countries protect their societies and economies against the impacts of climate change. This money will come from a 2% levy on carbon trading under the UN Clean Development Mechanism, which funds projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries.
Therefore, if the Copenhagen talks are to reach an agreement, the pace of discussions will need to increase. The next 12 months will bring a series of meetings at official level, with a draft negotiating text for Copenhagen planned for June 2009. In the immediate future, all eyes will be on Australia which is due to announce their climate change policy.
For more information, see:
