Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong at the conclusion of the much-anticipated but ultimately underwhelming Copenhagen Conference.
Credit: Australian Science Media Centre
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The closing of the Copenhagen climate talks has left many green groups and climate experts cold, and with fears that global ambition is simply too low to tackle the mounting problem of climate change.
At the end of the conference, some of the attending parties accepted the last-minute 'Copenhagen Accord' - a loose and non-binding agreement addressing a small handful of issues, including the establishment of a financing package to help developing nations adapt to climate change
There was, however, no agreement reached on a long-term global greenhouse gas mitigation target, nor was there an agreement of any time frame for global emissions to peak and subsequently drop. Both are necessary, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to achieve stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations at 450ppm and to avoid global temperature rises of more than 2⁰C above pre-industrial levels.
"This is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but, with 190 nations around the table, this is a solid, strong step forward," said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of the Accord, speaking to SBS World News Australia.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed the Prime Minister's approach, welcoming the deal but acknowledging its weaknesses.
"Bringing world leaders to the table paid off. We have the foundation for the first truly global agreement that will limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support adaptation for the most vulnerable and launch a new era of green growth," he said.
"The Copenhagen Accord may not be everything that everyone hoped for, but this decision of the Conference of Parties is a beginning, an essential beginning."
But green groups around the globe are less than impressed by the outcome.
"Well meant but half-hearted pledges to protect our planet from dangerous climate change are simply not sufficient to address a crisis that calls for completely new ways of collaboration across rich and poor countries," said Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF's Global Climate Initiative.
"Millions of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars and a wealth of lost opportunities lie in the difference between rhetoric and reality on climate change action."
In theory politicians around the world seem to be in agreement that we must stay below the 2⁰C threshold of unacceptable risks of climate change, WWF said, but in practice what world leaders have put on the table adds up to 3⁰C of warming or more.
Comments
Lindsay from Oz
Around 20 years ago carbon dioxide(CO2) used to be heavier than air by a factor of approx. 1.5 to 1. It was used in fire extinguishers to smother live electrical and liquid fuel fires where water was unsuitable. It was useful in providing the sparkle to champagne and even used in beer and soft drinks throughout the world without apparent side effects. Since CO2 is now lighter than air and rising into the atmosphere contributing to global warming (sorry - political correction - climate change) America is soon to declare it a toxic substance.(Wall Street Journal 5/12/2009) Perhaps scientists could be funded to find the cause of this serious change to its molecular mass and save governments thousands of dollars in fighting this global warming by this new approach. We are told that CO2 traps infra-red radiant heat from the earth and consequently raises global temperature.Surely this opacity to the outward radiation from the earth could be used to impede the sun's inward radiation through the CO2 also, thus preventing some of this alarming warming - (+0.64 degree celsius in 150 years!) Since carbon dioxide(CO2)comprises a staggering 0.038% (yes,that's about four one-hundredths) of our atmosphere it must be addressed urgently before tree and plant life becomes greener and more prolific as it attempts to absorb it,and by photosynthesis, spewing out oxygen, another dangerous gas. I hear that this one is inflammable also and even explosive in some circumstances !!