2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference

2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, officially the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 5th Meeting of the Parties (CMP5) to the Kyoto Protocol, was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The high-profile summit aimed to forge a new international agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol and address the escalating threat of global warming. It concluded with the controversial Copenhagen Accord, a non-binding political statement that fell short of many participants' ambitions for a legally binding treaty.

Background and context

The conference was the culmination of years of preparatory work under the Bali Road Map adopted at COP13 in Indonesia. Scientific urgency was underscored by the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which warned of severe consequences from unchecked greenhouse gas emissions. Key geopolitical shifts included the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, raising hopes for more engaged American climate policy, and the increasing economic influence of major emerging economies like the People's Republic of China, India, and Brazil. Expectations were exceptionally high, with over 110 world leaders, including Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, and Hu Jintao, announcing their attendance.

Negotiations and key issues

Formal negotiations under the UNFCCC and the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action were marked by deep divisions between developed and developing nations. Central disputes included the level of emission reduction commitments for industrialized countries like the United States and members of the European Union, and whether emerging economies should accept binding targets. Financial pledges from the G77 nations, led by figures like Lumumba Di-Aping of Sudan, demanded substantial funding from the Annex I countries for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the Global South. Other contentious points involved monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of actions, particularly regarding China's emissions, and the legal form of the final agreement.

Outcome and the Copenhagen Accord

The final days saw chaotic negotiations among a small group of leaders, including Barack Obama, Wen Jiabao, Manmohan Singh, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The resulting Copenhagen Accord was not adopted by the COP but was "taken note of." It recognized the scientific case for limiting global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and included collective pledges for climate finance, aiming for $100 billion annually by 2020. However, it contained no legally binding emission reduction targets or a clear timetable for a legal treaty. The accord was supported by major emitters like the United States and BASIC countries but was opposed by several nations, including Bolivia, Venezuela, and Sudan.

Reactions and criticism

Reactions were sharply divided. Many governments and observers, such as the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace, criticized the outcome as a profound failure of political leadership and a missed historic opportunity. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, acknowledged its imperfections but called it an "essential beginning." The process was widely condemned for lack of transparency and the exclusion of many delegations from critical closed-door meetings. Civil society groups organized large parallel events like the Klimaforum09 and protests in Copenhagen, arguing the accord protected the interests of industrialized nations and insufficiently addressed climate justice.

Legacy and subsequent developments

The conference's legacy is one of lowered expectations and a shift towards a more fragmented, pledge-and-review model of climate governance. The Copenhagen Accord paved the way for the subsequent Cancún agreements at COP16 and the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21. It demonstrated the necessity of including major economies like the United States and China in any viable deal, a lesson central to the structure of the Paris Agreement. The conference also highlighted the growing influence of the BASIC countries bloc in multilateral environmental negotiations.

Category:2009 in Denmark Category:United Nations Climate Change conferences Category:2009 in the environment Category:December 2009 events