Copenhangen’s Climate Summit- the story so far

Copenhagen’s climate change summit is to set the agenda for climate change policy across the globe, and has been described as an “opportunity the world cannot afford to miss”.

The two week conference kicked off today with a shocking video of a young girl having a nightmare about global warming.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen told delegates from 192 countries a “strong and ambitious climate change agreement” was needed. 100 world leaders will attend the Summit, which will aim to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocal, of which is an outdated mechanism and is clearly not working.

The main areas for discussion include targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions, in particular by developed countries; financial support for mitigation of and adaptation to climate change by developing countries and a carbon trading scheme aimed at ending the destruction of the world’s forests by 2030.

The UN says an unprecedented number of countries have promised emissions cuts, which is fantastic news- however, promising and delivering are two very different things. Indeed, the proposals at curbing emissions are attractive to the environment but will they ever really be wholeheartedly embraced by big business and even partly acceptable to the developing world, who struggle enough to play ‘catch-up’ with their developed counterparts?

Even more, are these proposed changes enough or is it too late? Al Gore’s An  Inconvenient Truth may suggest not, even if these ambitious promises are realized. Cerainly, any action is better than none, but according to the BBC, scientist claim there is a significant gap between what is necessary and what is on offer in the political spectrum.

The Danish PM declared “For the next two weeks,” he said, “Copenhagen will be Hopenhagen. By the end, we must be able to deliver back to the world what was granted us here today: hope for a better future.”

Hope, yes. But, as jointly stated in an editorial, at the very heart of the deal must be a “settlement between the rich world and the developing world”

This aspiration has been set in motion- partly. On Monday, South Africa became the latest country to make an offer – saying it would cut by one-third the growth of its carbon emissions over the next decade, subject to getting more funding and help from wealthier countries. However, the African Union has threatened to walk out of the talks if industrialised countries do not agree to help poor ones pay for the transition to cleaner economies.

The Summit continues for the next two weeks, ending on the 18th December. Will we be any further to a solution?

The facts are backed by mass public support of reducing carbon emissions and paving the way to a less polluted world- a Globescan survey said 64% of people questioned said that they considered global warming a very serious problem – up 20% from a 1998 poll.

And the world’s media are also backing the summit, as 56 newspapers in 45 countries are publishing the same editorial on Monday, warning that climate change will “ravage our planet” unless action is agreed, the Guardian reported.

Environmental activists are planning to hold protests in Copenhagen and around the world on 12 December to encourage delegates to reach the strongest possible deal.

Let’s hope it works.