Copenhagen Climate Change Summit To Fail?
by Orlandy - December 15th, 2009.Filed under: environment.
Fears are rising that the Copenhagen summit on climate change could end without an agreement being reached. The main source of discontent is the widely differing position between the developed and developing countries.
Russia and China are championing the cause of the developing nations that richer countries should bear the heavier responsibility for reducing emissions. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his website:-
“I also think that we need to use a differentiated approach in determining the commitments of developed and developing countries. We are all in different situations,” he said.
“These commitments must not conflict with economic opportunities or, most importantly, the development priorities of each country. It’s obvious that the young industrialized economies will be a greater drain on energy resources than the postindustrial powers that have already developed their economies.”
Jiang Yu, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said that developed countries have “put forward a plethora” of demands on developing countries and that this “will hamper the Copenhagen conference.”
What is most surprising about the position taken by Russia and China is that they are generally considered to be industrialised, developed countries themselves these days.
The developing nations walked out of the Copenhagen climate change talks on Sunday for five hours over the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which they want changed to a two tier system when it expires in 2012. This system would give developing countries a special deal as they become more industrialised. Other nations are against this, preferring a single agreement to fight the effects of climate change. The walkout ended when conference organisers agreed to form pairs of ministers from each side in an attempt to bridge differences.
President Obama has now arranged to attend the conference at its close, rather than earlier in the week, but time is fast running out for any Copenhagen agreement at all. EU Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso asked “How are we going to look Friday or Saturday if there are more than 100 heads of state and government from all over the world, and what we say to the world is that it was not possible to come to an agreement?”. A very good question.