It was the announcement by US secretary of state Hilary Clinton that America would support a $100 billion
global climate change fund from the rich nations to the developing countries from 2020 that was the ‘game changer’.
Coming a day ahead of President Barack Obama’s arrival for the final day of negotiations at the
UN Climate Change talks, the announcement was a shot in the arm to the summit, which has so far failed to agree on the big issues that a final agreement requires, such as emissions cuts, financing and global temperature rises.
"It is no secret that we have lost precious time in these past days," said Clinton. "In the time we have left here, it can no longer be about us versus them — this group of nations pitted against that group. We all face the same challenge together."
By ‘them’, Clinton was referring to China, to whom she made it clear that such an offer by the US was conditional on that country and other developing nations agreeing that their
emission cuts should be internationally monitored. "If there is not even a commitment to pursue transparency, that's kind of a deal-breaker for us," she said.
British officials welcomed the US announcement. Energy minister Joan Ruddock told BBC News this evening that it had put negotiators, who were becoming despairing over the lack of progress, “in a rather better mood”. “Things have improved, negotiators are back at the table and discussing meatier issues,” she said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, said he was still hopeful that a deal could be clinched at
Copenhagen, despite a race against the clock.
Even the Chinese, which have been at loggerheads with US officials for most of the summit, seemed to approve of the deal being put on the table today by America. “It’s a good step,” one Chinese minister said.
Environmental groups said it was a step in the right direction but didn’t go far enough.
"The US is finally waking up to its responsibility to provide money for developing countries - but this proposal must be judged on the cold details, rather than warm words,” said Andy Atkins, executive director, Friends of the Earth. "The proposed $100 billion fund is well short of UN estimates needed to properly tackle climate change - and too much of this money currently comes from repackaged aid money and a massive expansion of carbon markets.”
Clinton gave no specifics about how the $100 billion would be raised and it is, indeed, much lower than what many developing nations say they need to tackle climate change with – with figures anywhere between $200 billion and $600 billion a year being bandied around.
And money is not the only sticking point of the talks.
The US pledge of aid raises the possibility that Europe will up its pledge to
cut greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020 – a target it has said it will go for only on condition other countries set out their own ambitious goals. However, overall rich nations have only so far pledged they will cut their GHG by 18 per cent by 2020, something developing nations say just doesn’t go far enough. Meanwhile, developed countries say developing nations need to show a commitment to tackling their own rising emissions.
Then there’s the issue of
global warming itself. Negotiators have been working on a model that will see temperature rises of two degrees Celsius, but some of the most vulnerable nations to climate change say they will only agree a deal that permits rises of 1.5C.
Clearly the negotiations are a long way from being out of the woods and it seems difficult to contemplate that such complex issues can be resolved in what is a matter of hours now. But tomorrow Obama comes to town and all eyes will be on him to build on what Clinton has already achieved today.
Related Content
Copenhagen Summit NewsGreen and Environmental FeaturesGreen and Environmental InterviewsLatest Environmental NewsRelated Sites
en.cop15.dkwww.iccwbo.orgwww.cbi.org.uk
