
Sr Aine Hughes of Caritas South Africa and Christine Campeau, Caritas delegate at the UN in Geneva, marching for climate justice in Copenhagen in December. Credit: Nicholson/Caritas
The Copenhagen summit on climate change brought together 115 Heads of State and Government and more than 40,000 people applying for accreditation, which far exceeded the conference center’s 15,000 capacity, to reach a meaningful deal. No legally binding deal was reached and what was agreed fell sort of what scientists say we need to do to save the planet and our own skins.
What did come out was the Copenhagen Accord was a non-transparent, non-binding deal drafted up by the US, Brazil, China, India, and South Africa that the official UNFCCC Secretariat only agreed ‘to take note of’.
As the fanfare and recriminations from Copenhagen ebb, negotiators are facing the hard task of putting talks back on some sort of recognized road to reaching a deal. No agenda has been set at this stage to move this agreement forward.
That lack of gusto was much in evidence this week as 55 countries announced their pledges as part of the Copenhagen Accord on ‘mitigation’ – what actions they will take to cut greenhouse gas emissions. (more…)








