The Copenhagen Accord

Depending on which side you are, the Copenhagen Accord can be an achievement of sort, or not at all. Amidst the hullabaloo in and out of the Summit venue, nothing legally binding has come out of the Accord (of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen). It does not let the ordinary man on the street feel that they can honestly rely on independent parties to verify any claim of greenhouse gas reduction.

The Copenhagen Accord is supposed to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012. The Kyoto Protocol established legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Developing nations, on the other hand, will implement national mitigation actions on voluntary basis. Unlike developed countries, which have gone through industrialization phase, many developing countries need to continue with the urgent task of development and reduce poverty. it is a question of finding the right balance between reduction and development.

From the beginning, the developed countries had wanted to implement a single tier system, binding all nations to a new single deal. This naturally was not acceptable to developing countries. The latter viewed it as an attempt by developed nations to dodge their mandatory obligations under the Kyoto Protocol and forcing the developing nations to bear more responsibilities. The latter also viewed it as completely unfair and unequal. In the end, the double track Accord was adopted.

China had offered to reduce the intensity of its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45% of 2005 level, by 2020. It has vehemently resisted any attempt by the developed nations, particularly the US, to set an independent verifying mechanism, arguing that it infringes on its sovereignty. It had set out to do its own voluntary emission cuts and self monitoring. China considered that the Copenhagen Accord had achieved its own objectives.

The EU, in the word of its Swedish chairman, Andreas Carigren, was "a disappointment and frustration." The Pacific island nations were obviously a dis-enchanted lot. They had lobbied for not more than 1.5 deg C of temperature rise that must peak in 2015. For, they will be among the first to suffer, with every rise in global temperature. Tuvalu's Summit representative said, 'at the present rate of greenhouse gas emissions, Tuvalu will be under water in 50 years' time.'

At the outset of the Summit, some of the polluting nations must have thought that they could just continue with their emission rate, or worse, by simply shifting the responsibility to others, via a carbon credit trading mechanism. In the end, the Accord adopted a standing on limiting the global temperature rise to within 2 deg C.

Australia, which had offered a 5% cut in greenhouse gas emissions, will now have to go for 5 times that amount in its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). This will be a very tall order, given that at 5% reduction under the CPRS, its coal mining output will have to be cut by 35% - according to Commonwealth Treasury of Australia's own modeling.

From the beginning, OPEC as a cartel, had blamed developed nations for the present state of climate change. They contended that it all started from the days of the Industrial Revolution. Since they created these mess, they must now pay for it. The Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, "Let's not think that they (developed countries) are giving something to us that we are begging for. The money that will be put on the table is the payment of greenhouse gas emissions that were made over two centuries,"

African nations, which had borne the brunt of global warming in the form of wide-spread drought, considered the Summit's adoption of $100 billion a year jointly by developed nations by 2020 to help poor nations, chicken feed. UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, called the summit an "essential beginning." US President, Barack Obama called it a 'break-through", even though US had offered only 17% cut in emissions.

So, what is next for the ordinary people to feel happy for our Planet's future? As a responsible citizen of this Earth, we, the ordinary people have a role to play in reducing greenhouse gases, by reducing our carbon footprint.