The climate change conference in Copenhagen started with a strong spoken commitment to clinch an ambitious international climate change deal and an unprecedented sense of urgency to act.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced that 110 heads of state and government will attend the conference at its conclusion. This leaves 8 days for the ministers and worker bees to draft comprehensive and acceptable legislation for the world leaders to sign. While there are still many discrepancies between what the richer nations responsible for the bulk of pollution and the poorer ones that are the most impacted, the atmosphere here at the opening is positive and upbeat. There is no question here that climate change is real and it is not going away!
The Prime Minister pointed to the fact that climate change knows no borders. “It does not discriminate, it affects us all,” he said. “And we are here today because we are all committed to take action. That is our common point of departure – the magnitude of the challenge before us is to translate this political will into a strong political approach,” he added.
The urgency to act was underscored by Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who told the conference that global emissions would need to peak by 2015 for the world to stay below a two degrees Celsius temperature rise. “The costs of responding to climate change will become progressively higher as time goes on, therefore we must take action now,” he said.
“We have reached the deadline and there is no going back”, said newly elected COP President and Danish COP 15 Minister Connie Hedegaard. “Copenhagen will be the city of the three C’s: ‘Cooperation’, Commitment’ and ‘Consensus’. Now is the time to capture the moment and conclude a truly ambitious global deal. This is our chance. If we miss this opportunity, we will not get a better one,” she said. Could it be that the commitment to clean air, water and the preservation of our forests and all life will be a common goal of this conference?
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said there was unprecedented political momentum for a deal. “World leaders are calling for an agreement that offers serious emission limitation goals and that captures the provision of significant financial and technological support to developing countries,” he said. “At the same time, Copenhagen will only be a success if it delivers significant and immediate action that begins the day the conference ends.”
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an aggregate emission reduction by industrialized countries of between minus 25% and 40% over 1990 levels would be required by 2020 in order to stave off the worst effects of climate change, with global emissions falling by at least 50% by 2050. Even under this scenario, there would be an only a 50% chance of avoiding the most catastrophic consequences.
While ambitions are high and much is at stake, there are still huge gaps in perception of what would make constitute a successful agreement. I will continue to bring you daily updates from Copenhagen. I ask you to please take some action today that will make a difference, no matter how large or small. You make a difference.