COPENHAGEN – The world’s most-anticipated climate change conference wound down almost a full day late – only narrowly avoiding utter failure with a limited but politically saleable last-minute pact.
On Saturday, 193 United Nations member countries agreed they would “take note” of the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, which will see countries list individual emission reduction targets, and begin a process for tens of billions in financial aid to flow to poor nations to help them adapt to climate change.
But the accord is non-binding and weaker than many hoped.
World leaders in Copenhagen – some of whom negotiated down to the wire Friday – didn’t agree on or get to issues such as a long-term emission-reduction target, or greater protections for tropical rainforests.
“It may not be everything we hoped for, but this decision of the Conference of Parties is an essential beginning,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who complained to reporters he had only two hours sleep in two days due to the heavy negotiations.
Even with 119 heads of state in attendance in Copenhagen – the largest-ever United Nations gathering of leaders and government – there are still major questions about whether the deal has any teeth.
UN climate chief Yvo de Boer gave a rigid explanation of the concept of taking note, saying it’s “a way of recognizing that something is there, but not going so far as to directly associate yourself with it.”
Countries will formally declare their support, or not, going forward.
The deal was brokered by a group of high-emitting economic powerhouses, including the U.S., China, India and Brazil.
De Boer described how he spent hours Friday “in a rather stuffy room” with U.S. President Barack Obama and more than 20 other heads of state who were dealing with the “nitty-gritty” part of the text.
“I don’t know if that’s ever happened before. I don’t know if that will ever happen again,” he said.
Many countries, including Canada, said they will support the agreement.
But debate over the pact, which was introduced late Friday, raged through the night – making it the second or third sleepless night for many negotiators.
Opposition came from countries such as the small island nation of Tuvalu, which is worried about being drowned out by rising ocean levels, and countries who felt they were left out of the process.
Others complained the agreement ignores scientific consensus that more drastic action is needed to slow the rate of climate change, or leaves too much to the goodwill of rich countries to help developed nations.
“What I’d like to see is the European Union, the U.S. and the major donors act immediately on it,” said Grenada’s Dessima Williams, chairwoman for the Alliance of Small Island States.
Canada has pledged to be a part of the financing plan but has yet to announce any details of its contribution.
Overall, however, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada is “comfortable” with the accord.
And after arriving back in Ottawa Saturday, federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the deal is a major step forward.
“It was very tough set of negotiations for Canada. But what we’ve been able to achieve here is ultimately an accord that Canada has been pursuing all along,” Prentice said.
Prentice said the conclusion of the international negotiation means he can move on further harmonizing Canada’s climate change policies with the United States.
The two countries already have virtually the same emission-reduction targets, and that will remain, but Prentice said he wants Canada to have the same base year as the U.S. for calculating emission reductions.
He also said he will begin a process of consulting with industry on what he hopes will be a North American-wide cap-and-trade system, where major industrial emitters have to buy credits for emissions above and beyond a prescribed limit.
“That will involve discussions with all sectors of the Canadian economy that emit carbon.” Prentice said.
However, some say the government has moved too slowly on this key front.
NDP environment critic Linda Duncan, an Alberta MP who also went to Copenhagen, said the government has been promising to reveal those details for months, and needs to deliver some substance if there are to be real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’re not allowed to see the draft regulations. We’re not allowed to see what the sector caps are,” Duncan said.
She is not the only one who takes issue with Canadian climate policy.
In Copenhagen, Canada was dogged by enthusiastic young protesters calling for restrictions on oilsands development, or tougher emission targets than the long-stated goal of an absolute greenhouse gas reduction of 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020.
Through the course of the two-week talks, Canada kept a low profile compared to other countries – political leaders shied away from larger public events or press conferences.
Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner said he cancelled an appearance at a side-event in Copenhagen in part because of concerns about oilsands protesters barging in. “I didn’t want to disrupt the proceedings,” he said.
Renner said he spent most of his time in the city meeting with foreign delegations from Europe, speaking about Alberta’s $2 billion plans for carbon capture and sequestration projects, and its small-scale carbon pricing system.
“There is a need to put the oilsands in perspective,” he said.
The larger question is whether the new accord will have any actual impact in reducing emissions.
“We’re very concerned about the deal – the environmental ambition of it at this point is way too low,” said Clare Demerse of the Pembina Institute, a Canadian energy and environmental think-tank.
The Copenhagen Accord commits the world to keeping the effects of climate change limited to less than two degrees Celsius. It also seeks to raise $100 billion annually by 2020 to help poor countries adapt to predicted global warming that will bring more floods, droughts and rising sea levels.
And for the first time, developing countries will be involved in a climate change pact with stated emission-reduction goals.
But the accord is not legally binding, and does not lay out a plan for renewing or refreshing the Kyoto Protocol – which has accounting, compliance and reporting measures built into its structure.
As for targets, the new Copenhagen Accord states that both industrialized and developing countries must list their pledges by Jan. 31, 2010. Developing countries must communicate their efforts to “limit” greenhouse gas emissions every two years.
However, disappointing to many is the fact the accord sets no global emission-reduction targets for the medium or long term. An early draft of the accord circulated Friday asked all countries to commit to reducing emissions by 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050 – but it was struck from the final accord.
“The job’s not over. This is obviously an incomplete, initial deal,” Demerse said, adding that she hopes Canada takes the lead in pushing climate discussions when it hosts the G8 and G20 summits of major industrialized countries next summer.
Dozens of non-governmental organizations representing the Arctic or poor southern hemisphere countries were also disappointed by the deal.
“It is discouraging to watch this process unfold with so little ambition,” said Angie Daze, of CARE International.
“I’ve been in Bangladesh, where destructive floods are becoming more frequent and more severe. I’ve just come from Ghana where the land is turning into desert.”
The next major United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting will be held in Mexico in late November or early December 2010. It will be preceded by a major two-week negotiating session in Bonn, Germany in May and June.
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