Global warming deal hopes revived after Cancun agreement
by Emily Beament
More than 190 countries have struck an agreement at the latest round
of UN climate talks that puts efforts to secure a new international deal
to tackle global warming back on track.
The talks in Cancun, Mexico, were the latest attempt to make progress
towards a new global deal on tackling climate change, after last year’s
meeting in Copenhagen failed amid chaotic scenes to secure a new
legally-binding treaty on cutting emissions, instead delivering only a
weak voluntary accord.
At the end of two weeks of talks in Mexico, government ministers and
officials agreed a deal which Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne
described as a “serious package” of measures.
He acknowledged the agreement did not give everybody everything they
wanted and would still require work towards a final deal at a meeting
next year in Durban, South Africa.
Environmental campaigners said it threw a lifeline to efforts to get
a deal to tackle climate change but there was still much work to do, in
particular to close the “gigatonne gap” between the greenhouse emissions
cuts countries have pledged and the reductions needed to limit
temperature rises to no more than 2C.
The agreement acknowledges the need to keep temperature rises to 2C
and brings non-binding emissions cuts pledges made under the voluntary
Copenhagen Accord, hammered out in the dying hours of last year’s
conference, into the UN process.
It also includes an agreement to set up a green climate fund as part
of efforts to deliver 100 billion US dollars (£60 billion) a year by
2020 to poor countries to help them cope with the impacts of global
warming and develop without polluting.
It includes a scheme to provide financial support for countries to
preserve their forests, in a bid to combat deforestation which accounts
for almost a fifth of global annual emissions, and makes progress on how
countries’ actions are going to be monitored and verified..
Earlier progress had been held up by the major stumbling block of
what is to be done about the existing climate treaty, Kyoto protocol,
and how major emitters such as the US and China should be included in a
future deal.
But in scenes in the final hours that were in sharp contrast to last
year’s angry debates between countries in Copenhagen, the Mexican
president of the conference Patricia Espinosa received two standing
ovations in the meeting for her work to achieve agreement, with the
Indian delegation describing her as a goddess.
Representatives from country after country acknowledged the agreement
was not perfect, but that they supported it as progress towards a final
deal - although Bolivia hit out at the proposals, likening them to
genocide.
Friends of the Earth’s international climate campaigner Asad Rehman
described the Cancun agreement as weak and ineffective - but said it
gave the world a “small and fragile lifeline”.
And he warned: “”The emissions cuts on the table could still lead to
a global temperature increase of up to five degrees which would be
catastrophic for hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people.”
Keith Allott, head of climate change at WWF-UK, said: “After
Copenhagen it was hoped that Cancun could establish a platform for
progressing action on climate change.
“Despite some last minute hiccups, countries leave here with a
renewed sense of goodwill and some sense of purpose,” he said.But he
said a lot of work had to be done to make sure the agreements achieved
in Cancun were built on next year.
“The UK and EU must not squander this chance - they need to champion
much more ambitious action to cut emissions and close the ‘gigatonne
gap,” he urged
And he said: “Governments backed a new global “green fund”. The UK
needs to drive this forward by backing new sources of finance, such as
levies on international aviation and shipping.”
Friends of the Earth International Climate Campaigner Asad Rehman
said: “The world needed strong and determined action to tackle climate
change in Cancun - the outcome is a weak and ineffective agreement but
at least it gives us a small and fragile lifeline.
“Russia, Japan and the US, backed by powerful vested interests, have
pursued a selfish agenda which has opened the door to a hazardous system
where emissions targets would be decided on the whim of politicians,
rather than by science.
“The emissions cuts on the table could still lead to a global
temperature increase of up to five degrees which would be catastrophic
for hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people.”
Alex Farrow, Co-director of the UK Youth Climate Coalition, said:
“Today’s progress gives young people across the world hope. This is the
beginning of a common climate path. These outcomes put us one step
closer to the cleaner, fairer future that young people across the world
dream of.
“UK youth made hundreds of phone calls and generated thousands of
tweets to persuade Chris Huhne to stay in Cancun for the climate talks.
Our hard work paid off, as Huhne stayed to continue his key role in
bringing parties together.”Cafod’s head of policy Gwen Barry said:
“Cancun has shown people whose lives depend on these negotiations that
the world is serious about preventing devastating climate change.
The gains made here in Mexico lay the foundations for action towards
a legally binding agreement that could safeguard the future for our
children and grandchildren.“It is a credit to the Mexican presidency of
the COP that they created the political space for meaningful
negotiation. After the damaging adversarial tone of Copenhagen and
Tianjin they have offered us glimpses of a political dynamic that could
successfully tackle climate change. The collective spirit of multi-lateralism
that filled the last hours of Cancun engendered a level of compromise
that saw even recalcitrant nations find room for flexibility.“But Japan,
the US, Russia and Canada - and any nation that did not come to Cancun
with ambitious mandates - must be reminded that when the present
economic crisis has ended, climate change will still be gathering pace.
And with each year that passes without a globally binding agreement
to cut emissions and finance poor countries’ needs to adapt to climate
change and develop low-carbon economies, the impacts will become more
and more severe.
Bolivia repeatedly opposed attempts to pass the agreement, but it was
gravelled through in the early hours of the morning in Mexico to
rapturous applause from delegates.
Greenpeace International Climate Policy Director Wendel Trio said:
“Cancun may have saved the process but it did not yet save the climate.
“Some called the process dead but governments have shown that they
can cooperate and can move forward to achieve a global deal.”
“Cancun has delivered the momentum - but we haven’t arrived there
yet.
“In Durban we need a global deal that helps countries build a green
economy and that holds polluters accountable.”Mr Huhne said the
agreement secured today got the show back on the road and gave a new
sense of momentum going forward to Durban - though he said it was too
early to say what could be achieved in South Africa.
- The Independent
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