World leaders have hailed an “historic” deal on climate change after two weeks of difficult negotiations in Copenhagen.
By James Kirkup and Louise Gray in Copenhagen
Published: 10:46PM GMT 18 Dec 2009
(From Left) European Commission President Barroso, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, US President Barack Obama and British PM Gordon Brown Photo: STEFFEN KUGLER/AFP/Getty Images
US President Barack Obama reached a “meaningful” agreement with the leaders of China, India and South Africa at the Copenhagen climate conference.
The shift was described as an “historic step forward” but US officials made clear that it was not enough to stop the world warming up.
As details began to emerge, officials stressed that no country was “entirely satisfied” with what had been agreed.
It followed a superpower showdown between the US and China over American calls for monitoring of China’s carbon reduction programme.
It was understood that countries had agreed to share information on their emissions through “national communications”.
The limited deal was understood to include both developed and developing nations agreeing to "list national actions and commitments" on cutting carbon emissions, US officials said.
Agreement was also reached in principle of a package of financial measures to help poorer counties faced with the worst effects of climate change.
Crucially, the leaders also gave their assent to targets to limit any rise in global temperatures to 2C.
"No country is entirely satisfied with each element but this is a meaningful and historic step forward and a foundation from which to make further progress," the official said.
"It's not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change but it's an important first step."
The 11th-hour conclusion followed signals from Gordon Brown that leaders were also drawing up a “Plan B” for a slimmed-down deal which would have excluded China.
No comments:
Post a Comment