Background

In 2005, the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change came into force. This international agreement, a significant milestone, set emission reduction targets for its signatories to reach by 2012. However, recent scientific evidence shows that greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow at a dangerous rate.

Ahead of the final period of negotiations prior to the Kyoto Protocol’s successor agreement to be concluded in Copenhagen in December 2009, UNA London and Southeast Region held a one-day conference with leading experts to discuss how a real reversal of climate change emissions can be achieved; and to contribute to the debate on how an effective successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol can best be forged.

Conference Materials
Conference Programme
Conference Report

Presentations

Welcome address by Efthimios Mitropoulos, IMO Secretary General

Keynote addresses
- Professor Robert Watson, Chief Scientific Adviser, DEFRA
- Lord Hannay of Chiswick, President, UNA-UK
- Oliver Tickell, Journalist and author of Kyoto

2010 Summer Council: The Road to Mexico

The Region's Summer Council, entitled "The Road to Mexico", was a follow up to the IMO Conference. Outcome of the meeting will contribute to UNA-UK and HMG's climate change policies in the run-up to COP-16 in Cancun at year end.

Bernadette Vallely, Chief Executive of the Women's Environmental Network spoke about the disproportionate effect of climate change on women - 80% of the world's farmers are women though only 2% own the land they labour on.

Polly Higgins, advocate of Planetart Rights, examined the proposed new international crime of "Ecocide", falling into the category of "crimes of agression" under the jurisdiction of the UN International Criminal Court. It would for instance make any director of a company involved in illegally cutting down rainforests individually responsible for the crime, as well as those financing that company, irrespective of whether their own country had signed up to the law.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has described the 3-page Copenhagen Accord as “an important beginning”. Gordon Brown said the agreement was a "vital first step". The question is: where do we go from here?

Yvo de Boer (Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) at the Region’s Climate Change Conference in April 2009 noted that agreement at Copenhagen would be "crucial".

Yet, the much anticipated UN Climate Change Conference closed on 18 December 2009 with a non-binding accord that "recognises" the scientific case for keeping temperature rises to no more than 2 C but does not contain commitments to emissions reductions to achieve that goal.

A Toothless Agreement
The Accord was reached between the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa. It contains no reference to a legally binding agreement. It does not specify a dead-line for transforming it into a binding deal, though UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it needed to be turned into a legally binding treaty in 2010. It was "recognised" by the 193 nations at the Copenhagen summit, rather than approved, which would have required unanimous support.

No Targets Set
No target date was set for the peaking of emissions, and no global targets have been set for 2020 – or 2050. No firm agreement has been reached on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Where is the Money?
The promised finances for poor nations are a positive outcome; but the sums are widely believed to be too small.

Scientific Basis
Many scientists believe that 2 C is too high – and there is no cap for CO2 concentrations, even at 350 parts per million which scientists say is a safer level to take account of positive feedbacks. Realistically, on present trends, 450 ppm cap and 3 C or more of real temperature increase is a very serious danger.

What Now?
US President Barack Obama said: "This progress is not enough. We have come a long way, but we have much further to go." UK Prime Minster Gordon Brown said: “What we really need is a legally binding treaty as quickly as possible". We now have to wait until August 2010 for the next opportunity to forge a binding global climate treaty at the UN conference in Mexico.

The challenge, as UK Climate Change Minster Ed Milliband noted, is for all of us not to lose heart and momentum. The global climate change campaign must carry on. While keeping up the pressure on political leaders, the best thing we as individuals can do in the meantime is to redouble our own efforts to change our lifestyles.

Have you signed up to the 10:10 campaign? Founder Fran Armstrong (The Age of Stupid) hopes to unite everyone behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010. [Linda Leung / February 2010]

The Copenhagen Accord: Key Points

• 1. Temperature
• "Recognises the scientific view" to limit global temperatures rising no more than 2 C (3.6 F) above pre-industrial levels.
• Countries were asked to indicate by 1 February 2010 their pledges for curbing carbon emissions by 2020. No targets for emission reduction indicated.
• 2. Finance
• $30 billion (£18.5 billion) promised to developing nations for 2010-2012; with a goal of providing $100 billion a year by 2020 by industrialised countries drawing on "public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance."
• A green climate fund will also be established to support projects in developing countries related to mitigation, adaptation, "capacity building" and technology transfer.
• 3. Emission
  Industrialised countries pledged to come under "rigorous, robust and transparent" scrutiny under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• Developing countries will submit national reports on their emissions pledges under a method "that will ensure that national sovereignty is respected."
• Pledges on climate mitigation measures seeking international support will be recorded in a registry.
• 4. Review & Monitoring
• Implementation will be reviewed by 2015.

Useful Links

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