Copenhagen climate deal cop-out
During the year, a number of developing countries showed a willingness to accept their share of the burden to avert climate chaos. But in the end, the blame for failure mostly lies with the rich industrialised world, countries which have the largest historic responsibility for causing the problem. In particular, the US failed to take any real leadership and dragged the talks down.
The scientists are saying that we have only a few years left to stop the rise in emissions before making the kind of rapid reductions that would give us the best chance of avoiding dangerous climate change. We can’t change that science, so instead we will have to change the politics – and we may well have to change the politicians.
This is not over, people everywhere demanded a real deal before the Summit began and they are still demanding it. We can still save hundreds of millions of people from the devastation of a warming world, but it has just become a whole lot harder.
From Greenpeace.
Copenhagen: Please help the world
Copenhagen climate conference opens
The biggest climate meeting in history, with 15,000 participants from 192 nations, opened in Copenhagen on Monday with host Denmark saying an unmissable opportunity to protect the planet was “within reach.”
110 world leaders, including President Barack Obama, will attend a summit at the end of the meeting to agree deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and raise billions of dollars in aid for developing nations.
The presence of so many world leaders “reflects an unprecedented mobilization of political determination to combat climate change. It represents a huge opportunity. An opportunity the world cannot afford to miss” Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told delegates at the opening ceremony.
“The ultimate responsibility rests with the citizens of the world, who will ultimately bear the fatal consequences, if we fail to act” he said.
Read the full story on MSNBC.
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