President Barack Obama has defended an international climate accord reached in Copenhagen as an ‘important breakthrough’ but stressed that it was only a step toward curbing global carbon emissions.
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President Barack Obama has defended an international climate accord reached in Copenhagen as an ‘important breakthrough’ but stressed that it was only a step toward curbing global carbon emissions.
‘For the first time in history, all of the world's major economies have come together to accept their responsibility to take action on the threat of climate change,’ Mr Obama said in a statement after returning from the Danish capital.
The talks ended with a bare-minimum agreement that fell well short of the conference's original goals after prolonged negotiations failed to paper over differences between rich nations and the developing world.
Mr Obama, who brokered an accord at the last moment with China, India, Brazil and South Africa to avoid coming home empty handed, acknowledged that talks had been tough.
The tough decisions on binding cuts in greenhouse gases, which had been expected to be tackled in Denmark, have effectively been postponed until the next global conference in Mexico next year.
The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said the Copenhagen Accord may not be everything everyone had hoped for, but the decision was an important beginning.
The build-up to this Copenhagen summit was all about overcoming major differences and securing a comprehensive agreement on tackling climate change - this simply has not happened.
Instead, the US, China, India and South Africa have agreed on some modest goals and the EU has reluctantly backed it, only in order to ensure the process continues.
What is being called the Copenhagen Accords was not endorsed by the plenary of 193 nations either - instead the deal, which was heavily criticised, was simply noted.
Hard decisions on binding cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, with in a set timeframe, or stating precisely where funds are going to come from for developing states has been delayed until the Mexico summit in November.
The organisation of the conference was, at times, disastrous; the end result is a fudge.
The Copenhagen summit is being described by some as a modest success, but most will view it as a failure. A lot of work is now required.
