Q&A: What is the Copenhagen summit?

17 Nov 2009, 12:00 am   -   Source: SBS - Chiara Pazzano
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Is the Copenhagen summit the last chance to strike a climate change treaty and will it be successful?

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The Copenhagen climate change conference is a United Nations meeting where 192 countries will try to forge a successor or a new Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. 

The convention will be held from December 7 until December 18 in the Danish capital.

The talks are the latest in an annual series of UN meetings that trace their origins to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, which aimed at coordinating international action against climate change.

In Bali all parties agreed on the Bali Action Plan, and with that came the working conditions for the negotiations up to COP15 in Copenhagen.

Who are the main players?

More than 192 countries will participate to the Copenhagen summit.

Some of the main players include: 

• The US, which offered to curb US emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. The White House said Obama would lay out a longer term plan for a 30 percent reduction of US emissions from 2005 levels by 2025, a 42 percent reduction by 2030 and an 83 percent cut by 2050.

• China, which said it will cut the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product in 2020 by 40 to 45 per cent from 2005 levels. But environmental experts warned that China's plan does not commit it to reducing emissions - and that they will in fact continue to increase, though at a slower rate.

• India, which has consistently argued that they should not be obliged to set internationally binding targets for reducing greenhouse gases because richer nations have a far greater historical responsibility for the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

• The European Union, which is committed to cutting CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020 and by up to 30% if other countries join in.

What does the summit hope to achieve?

Officials representing 192 countries at the Copenhagen conference will try to agree on a treaty which will replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.

The summit hopes to achieve an agreement on: 

-providing adequate finance and money from developed countries to developing countries

-setting a emission target for developed countries, between 25 and 40%

-reducing emissions from deforestation, especially in South-East Asia.

'No climate deal' at Copenhagen

In Mid-December Asia-Pacific leaders buried all hopes the climate change summit in Copenhagen next month will forge a binding pact to combat global warming, saying talks on the issue will drag on into the new year.

APEC dropped a proposal included in earlier drafts to slash their greenhouse gas emissions to half their 1990 levels by 2050.

Instead they backed a face-saving proposal from Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen aimed at forging a political statement of intent at the December meeting.

Complex negotiations towards a legally enforceable successor to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which expires in 2012, would then continue to work out differences between rich nations and developing countries including China.

The UN's top climate official earlier admitted reaching a final global warming treaty will be impossible this year, but the political ingredients of a deal must be settled at the conference.

"The Copenhagen meeting must agree on the "political essentials that make a long-term response to climate change clear, possible, realistic and well defined," said Yvo de Boer, the secretary-general of the UN climate change secretariat.

The finer points of a treaty should be concluded within one year, he said, so that it is ready to take effect in 2012, when parts of the Kyoto Protocol expire.

However, not all hopes have been crushed yet.

"There is a chance that world leaders will come with a declaration, a joint statement which may include a number, such as keeping the warming below 2 degrees," the Australian Conservation Foundation's Tony Mohr told SBS.

"But we shouldn’t be too excited about that because unless there is an international agreement to make those numbers real then all the words in the world will not account for much," he said.

Time 'running out'

"Copenhagen is critical because if the international community doesn't reach a solid agreement then, it is going to leave open the prospect that there won’t be something to follow on the Kyoto protocol," The Australian Conservation Foundation's Tony Mohr told SBS.

"More importantly climate scientists have been saying for some time now that we are running out of time and that we only have a very limited window to make the rights decisions because so much of our economy required decisions now that will have an impact for a very long time". 

The Kyoto accord, signed in 1997 in Japan, took eight years to finish and ratify and required 37 industrial nations to cut carbon emissions by an average 5 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012.

Where does Australia stand?

Australia's proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS) aims to curb emissions by 5 percent by 2020, or by up to 25 percent if there is a deal at Copenhagen.

Mr Mohr said Australia's emissions reduction target was in line with most developed countries.

"The 25 per cent reduction is still not enough to ensure that we have a safe climate but unfortunately other countries are putting forward targets that are quit weak," Mr Mohr told SBS.

The Australian scheme will cover 75 percent of Australian emissions from 1,000 of the biggest companies and be the second domestic trading platform outside of Europe.

Companies will need a permit for every tonne of carbon they emit.

The government plans to give the biggest polluting companies up to 95 percent of permits free in the early years of the scheme, with 66 percent of permits free to industries such as cement and aluminum smelters. Australia produces about 1.5 percent of global emissions.

But it is the world's biggest coal exporter and one of the highest per-capita emitters due to reliance on coal for 80 percent of electricity.

ETS vote looks to be dead in the water

But the legislation is unlikely to pass the upper house before the December 4 deadline amid accusations of filibustering on the part of opposition and crossbench senators.

Opposition and Greens senators have been putting a multitude of questions to Climate Change Minister Penny Wong on details surrounding the legislation, some of which have already been addressed.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon is seeking to amend the legislation to propose a 20 per cent target for emissions reductions.

Senator Milne moved an amendment which would see Australia provide financial assistance to developing nations so they can transform to lower carbon economies too.

That was defeated. The Greens also failed in their push for tougher emissions cuts.

Their two amendments aimed to lift national greenhouse gas emission reduction targets to at least 25 per cent unilaterally and 40 per cent in the event of a global agreement, both below 1990 levels by 2020.

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jim

jim - from kundabung, 1 year

rich can afford the cue

wrong debate

geoff - from melbourne, 3 years ago

The debate is not weather Climate Change is happening, the Himalayas were once the ocean floor. Climate Change on earth has occurred over billions of years before humans existed. The debate should be if human impact is causing Climate Change! The media loves spin; placement of the Kiribati stories directly after the climategate scandal stories. WAKE UP! RESEARCH THE FACTS! A massive Tax will not stop CC it will only take billions out of our economy each year, sending our money to offshore banks

Mr

Retired Veteran - from Penrith, 3 years ago

All my household and family would not like to see this country of ours destroyed by any decision to erode our democracy in any way . (It would destroy our constitution. We are to retain our sovereign Independence as a Democracy at all costs and not be dictated to by external forces or eccentric persuasive minority groups. The Copenhagen Treaty would cause our forefathers to turn in their grave if they knew what was proposed. This treaty is not for a Democracy in any way shape or form Thanks

irrationality

Bruce Cowell - from Brisbane, 3 years ago

I find it scary that so many conspiracy theorists still exist. They come out of the woodwork every now and again. It's either the Jews, the united nations, the communists, world government and now it's the evil scientists lying to pursue their aims at world domination. Perhaps it's paranoia, fear, ideology or a reaction to their own impotence. Whatever it is we should always be guided by rational thought and evidence.

Environmental Decline

Daz - from Byron Bay, 3 years ago

Global warming is one of a myriad of problems humanity faces. Biodiversity is declining as more species become endangered & extinct. The human race continues to pollute the planet with reckless abandon. Insatiable consumer demand creates ever increasing demands on limited resources. Food supplies are diminishing such as the ocean's fish stocks. Planet's water supplies are drying up/being polluted. Forests/rainforests continue to be cleared. And the world's population is rising exponentially.

right wing conspiracy theories...

Daniel - from Sydney, 3 years ago

Reds under the bed in 2009 is a little more than absurd, its schizophrenic. All this talk about conspiracy theories and world government just diverts attention from the real issue of climate change and the huge concessions the government has made to polluters. I think these absurd diversions reflect a deeper anxiety, that is the decline of the right as a unified political force and the real potential for the first time in history to undermine deeply ingrained corporate interests.

impressed

Stuart - from Canberra, 3 years ago

Hey im impressed the level of knowledge SBS posters have regarding world government, global taxation and the efforts to mass mind control the public on this issue. Some are still yet to understand the intentions of the global mass-media blitz regarding this issue. SBS sings from this song sheet and is utterly compromised in my opinion. Peace.

wake up

Taylor - from Victoria, 3 years ago

Wendy, At least we will have a world thoug. Get your head out of the sand and stop complaining. Something needs to be done now otherwise your children's children will play in a dustbowl with 40 degree heat in June. This "government" obivously needs this power because if our environment was left in the hands of people like you... we would be in serious trouble

A Wound That Will Not Heal!

JJSTEALL - from Adelaide, 3 years ago

How long do we the people have to endure with the excruciating pain collectively? I’m sick to death with the same old rhetoric trumpeted across our planet, warning us about the impending ramifications and the wider implications of our actions which will inevitable destroy our planet. Amongst all the falsehoods concerning our planet this contrived beast is the biggest. Well! Do you want to know what its like to live under one party rule! Just ask any advocate of communism!

The Environmental Movement

Shaun - from Sydney, 3 years ago

The environmental movement was hijacked long ago. The U.N has found it's chance at really dominating the world. World government is lurking behind Global Warming. The U.N will be controlling the world economy and collecting all climate taxes within 5 years. America is finished, it is merging with the U.N.

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