World leaders reach deal on climate change in Copenhagen - washingtonpost.com
COPENHAGEN -- President Obama said Friday night that an international deal to combat climate change had been reached, but "it is going to be very hard, and it's going to take some time" to get to a legally binding treaty.
"Today, we've made a meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough here in Copenhagen," Obama said.
The agreement, which appeared to fall short of even modest expectations for the talks, has not been endorsed yet by the full summit.
The official, speaking earlier on condition of anonymity, said a "meaningful agreement was reached" following a multilateral meeting between Obama and the leaders of China, India and South Africa. "It's not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change, but it's an important first step," the official said.
COPENHAGEN -- President Obama said Friday night that an international deal to combat climate change had been reached, but "it is going to be very hard, and it's going to take some time" to get to a legally binding treaty.
"Today, we've made a meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough here in Copenhagen," Obama said.
The agreement, which appeared to fall short of even modest expectations for the talks, has not been endorsed yet by the full summit.
The official, speaking earlier on condition of anonymity, said a "meaningful agreement was reached" following a multilateral meeting between Obama and the leaders of China, India and South Africa. "It's not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change, but it's an important first step," the official said.
System change not climate change.
Obama said.
"Today, we've made a meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough here in Copenhagen," even though the agreement, which appeared to fall short of even modest expectations for the talks, has not been endorsed yet by the full summit. "It's not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change, but it's an important first step,"
Obama admitted the commitments fell far short of what scientists have said is required to avert dangerous climate change. "We know they will not be sufficient, by themselves, to get to where we need to be by 2050," the president said. "Kyoto was legally binding, and everyone still fell short anyway."
"It will not be legally binding, but what it will do is allow for eachcountry to show to the world what they're doing, and there will be a sense on the part of each country that we're in this together, and
we'll know who is meeting and who's not meeting the mutual obligations that have been set forth."
However, the emerging deal - which needs to be accepted by all of the 193 nations at the talks - received a mixed reaction.
Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, speaking on behalf of the G77-China group of nations, reacted angrily to the developments, saying that a deal had been done behind their backs.
"Gross violations have been committed today - against the poor, against traditions of transparency and participation on an equal footing by all nations, and against common sense," he said.
A number of nations are reportedly not willing to accept the latest draft of the document, known as the "Copenhagen Accord".
Reacting to the Copenhagen "deal", John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: "The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport.
So Copenhagen was a bust. Two weeks of wasted time with nothing getting done. Even this last minute secret Obama deal, done in the dark of night, no one is happy with. And will not be a deal until 193 nations sign the accord.
More post from Wag This Dog.
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