Heads of state agree historic climate-saving deal

BY MICHAEL COUNTRY

COPENHAGEN – World leaders gathered at the Copenhagen Climate Summit took an historic step to halt climate change and global warming today. The deal will force ambitious cuts in global carbon emissions, end deforestation and help fund climate protection measures in the developing world.

The intense negotiations spilled into the early morning hours with U.N. negotiators eventually emerging clutching a 170-page document that will set the world on a new industrial and economic path. The agreement heralds a revolution in the way energy is produced and how tropical rainforests are protected. It also provides large sums of money to enable developing nations to leapfrog carbon-heavy, industrial development to create a cleaner future.

The executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de Boer, emerged bleary-eyed but smiling to declare: “The deal has been sealed. A deal that will place the world on the path to avert runaway climate change. A deal we can all be proud of.”

A visibly delighted De Boer kicked off the closing press conference with a celebratory speech worthy of an Oscar winner. Clearly emotional, De Boer went on to thank European leaders for their courage in breaking the deadlock in negotiations early last summer. The European Union’s landmark pledge last June to contribute $50 billion (€35 billion) for climate protection measures in developing countries was matched this week by U.S. President Barack Obama, who promised to contribute a further $60 billion (€43 billion).

De Boer went on to thank the army of anonymous bureaucrats who worked tirelessly to create a coherent framework, the scientists who rang the alarm bell and spoke out against political compromise and the world leaders who set aside their differences and worked together in the best interest of the planet and its people. Most notably, he thanked the thousands who, over the past several months took part in nonviolent direct action to put the agreement’s conditions firmly on the negotiating table.

“Thanks to the determined mobilization of hundreds of thousands of citizens, the leaders of world have agreed to ambitious greenhouse gas emission cuts and to fund climate change adaptation in the developing world,” said de Boer.
The Copenhagen deal binds industrial nations such as the U.S. and the European Union to a 40 percent cut in their greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 1990 levels. Developing countries also promised to slow their current growth in emissions by 30 percent, with the help of $155 billion (€110 billion) in total funding from industrialized countries. The deal also sets up a U.N. managed fund to help protect forests across the globe.

U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki Moon said: “The road to Copenhagen has been long and winding, and sometimes felt more like a highway to hell, but the deal has been sealed. The developed world has shouldered its responsibility and agreed to make ambitious greenhouse gas emission cuts and to fund emission reductions and climate change adaptation in the developing world, including rainforest protection. In return developing countries have agreed to adopt the necessary reduction measures.”

According to negotiators the deal has been structured to keep global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius, the tipping point beyond which scientists warn of runaway climate change. Throughout the two weeks of U.N. talks, the consequences of inaction were driven home by representatives of countries from all corners of the globe.

From North and South, developed and developing country representatives shared their fears of mass migration, mass starvation and mass extinctions. They warned that unchecked climate change would make poverty permanent in the developing world and severely impact those in developed countries. The meeting also addressed the risk that geopolitical tensions would increase under a warmed world. Reduced supplies of potable water, decimated arable land and mass migration from areas either flooded or rendered uninhabitable by sea level rise and increased temperatures could all trigger bloody regional conflicts.

Fredrik Reinfeld, Sweden’s prime minister and current holder of the European Union’s rotating presidency told reporters at the summit that the E.U. had played its part. “I feel proud that my European colleagues and I have been able to make a difference. We were the first to break the deadlock at an E.U. summit six months ago by agreeing that Europe and other rich countries had a responsibility to repay their carbon debt to developing nations. Now the rest of the world has followed our lead.”

The international executive director of Greenpeace hailed the deal as “a victory for sanity, for the planet and its people” and paid tribute to “all of those who campaigned over the years to set the conditions for change.”

THE YEAR IN REVIEW Marred by a year of political blaming, bickering and brinkmanship, the hugely complicated negotiating process was in the end galvanized by the accelerating evidence of climate change impacts. A bridge to the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica collapsed during one round of talks in April, the Arctic sea ice continued to thin, monsoons were delayed, hurricanes devastated the mid-western United States and forest fires raged out of control.
The breakthrough moment came at an E.U. Heads of State meeting in June. The European players in the G8 were then able to put pressure on Canada, Japan, Russia and the U.S. to follow suit at their summit in July. Pressure mounted over the summer, as thousands of citizens around the world, concerned about the climate crisis, joined together and made their voices heard.

Many who had never taken to the streets before called on their heads of state to take personal responsibility for saving the climate and to turn up in Copenhagen and address the global crisis. At a key meeting in Bangkok in September, U.N. negotiators locked in the 40 percent emissions cuts by 2020 for rich nations, challenging undecided nations to meet this benchmark.

WORLDWIDE CELEBRATION President Obama applauded his fellow world leaders: “Change has come to the world and we hope a lot less will now come to the climate. By focusing on common concerns and our common destiny, today we have forged a common purpose. Saving the climate means saving ourselves, saving the economy and investing in a sustainable future. Today we can have hope for tomorrow.”

In a radical break from past declarations, Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland hailed the end of fossil fuel dependency in Europe. “The days of the dark age of coal are numbered. No one believed it, but the [European Union] has helped the world free itself from the shackles of fossil fuels and embrace the energy of the sun, the wind and the earth. The pro-democracy revolution that began in the shipyards of Gdansk over 20 years ago has culminated in Europe’s ‘solidarity’ with developing countries in the name of the climate.”

“Finally, we have the backing of all the Europeans in protecting what’s left of the Amazon,” said President Lula da Silva of Brazil. “We already exported our best football players to their wealthy European teams; we just don’t want to send wood, soy and meat to them any more. Viva el clima!”

“Oh my God, this is like the best group activity I’ve ever done,” said Mitzi C., age 18, who was at the public gathering outside the summit on a sub-zero winter night. “In fact, it’s the only group activity I’ve ever done. Until now, my entire social life has been on Facebook. This is so much more rewarding.”

Danish police and security forces had been on high alert fearing civil unrest as hundreds of thousands of people gathered outside the venue to await the summit outcome. The chief of police said the celebrations went on all night and no arrests were made. In fact, most of the police were sent home early.

Many diplomats were seen to loosen their ties and join the celebrations. Enjoying a job well done, one of the European Commission’s top negotiators said: “Tonight and tomorrow we party, and then it will be back to work to get the deal ratified and make sure the commitments are kept.”