The largest climate meeting in history kicked off in Copenhagen, Denmark yesterday drawing 15,000 participants from 192 countries.
The meeting will conclude next week with a Summit of 105 world leaders, marking the significance and high expectations for this event, which aims to produce a global agreement on combating the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It’s worth noting that the Kyoto meeting, which resulted in the current protocol, was attended only by environmental ministers.
Six-Month Deadline
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in the Guardian that the goal of Copenhagen is to secure a "comprehensive and global agreement" to be converted into a legally binding treaty in "no more than six months."
"If by the end of next week we have not got an ambitious agreement, it will be an indictment of our generation that our children will not forgive," he wrote.
China, Brazil, South Africa and India also called for a legally binding treaty to be complete by mid-2010.
Reuters obtained a draft document jointly prepared by the countries, in which they state the negotiating group should compete its work by 2010. Other countries have suggested December 2010 as a deadline, an issue that could present a sticking point.
The document also states that rich nations must not create border tariffs that would undermine the economic advantages for emerging nations under a global treaty. Lawmakers in the U.S. and other developed nations have discussed creating such tariffs to limit the impact on domestic businesses from competition in countries without tough carbon limits.
Funding for Emerging Countries
The draft document also calls for the creation of a global climate fund to help developing countries prepare for and mitigate against climate change, to be administered by the Global Environment Facility.
UN Climate Secretary De Boer wants developed nations to immediately fund $10 billion a year for this purpose–though estimates for funding needed in later years is much higher.
The US proposed that such a fund should be managed by the World Bank, according to a New York Times report. This proposal is likely to draw opposition from activists who believe the World Bank favors fossil fuel development and rich nations.
The NY Times report suggests the US may commit to initial funding of $1.3 billion.
Bangladesh environment minister Hasan Mahmud Khondoker told a news conference today, that his country is entitled to ask for at least 15% of any climate adaptation fund, because it is the most vulnerable to climate change.
"The population of our one coastal district is bigger than the entire population of all island countries and in that consideration at least 15% of any climate fund should come to us," he said. (Reuters coverage)
The President of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) said rich nations should commit $40 billion a year to help Afica adjust to global warming.
"Climate change is costing this continent almost 3 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) per year. Now translate that into numbers, the kind of things we need: about $40 billion a year," he told Reuters in an interview.
South Africa Steps Up
South Africa offered a birght spot in the news cycle. The country said it will reduce its carbon emissions 34% by 2020, from estimated business-as-usual levels for that year.
"This undertaking is conditional on firstly a fair, ambitious and effective agreement," a South African government statement said. "And secondly, the provision of support from the international community, and in particular finance, technology and support."
Read the full BBC story at the link below.
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