COPENHAGEN, Denmark ? After an all-night session nearly undid the U.N. Climate Change Conference, delegates decided to ?note? an agreement version brokered partly by President Barack Obama that comes close to a formal approval, the Bureau of National Affairs reports.
While a disappointing conclusion for many, the end of negotiations paved the way for more talks next year. The 119 heads of state and government had high expectations going into the 15th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, and many expressed concern that a meeting next year would not garner the same attention and time.
?I don?t know if we can do this again,? said Anders Turreson, co-delegation head from Sweden. ?In many ways, this was an ideal moment to strike an agreement and it could not be done.?
Late last week, Obama said he had reached a deal during a closed-door conference with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minster Manmohan Singh, and South African President Jacob Zuma. A wider deal was struck in subsequent meetings that brought in another two dozen attendees, such as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
When presented to the plenary body for formal endorsement, the Copenhagen Accord, a less robust edition of two earlier drafts, encountered tough resistance from members of developing countries in the Group of 77. ?We felt it was better to end the talks with no deal than it was to end with a bad one,? said Kenya?s Grace Akumu.
The Copenhagen Accord has no greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals for 2020 or 2050, as well as no date for global emissions to reach their maximum number. The accord did require countries to affirm their own emissions reduction objectives no later than Jan. 31, 2010.
Another negotiation meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies to the U.N. Framework Convention is scheduled for May 31 through June 11, 2010, in Bonn, Germany. The next Conference of the Parties will take place in Mexico next November.
Read more about energy policy and climate change at the NACS issue page.
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