Final Press Conference - Copenhagen December 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

Yvo_de_Boer (wikipedia)  the current Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change gave the final press conference. 

• Yvo spent 10 hours with above heads of states who were into the nitty gritty of drafting the final text of the Copenhagen Accord.
• Significant elements of Copenhagen Accord: 2 degree max temp increase goal, finance support, new mechanism for technology transfer, forestry issues
• BUT ... not an Accord that is a legally binding instrument
• $23 bn of short term finance spoken about (not in the Copenhagen Accord)
• Mexico is next opportunity to capture these pledges
• "the Conference of Parties 'takes note of' (recognising something is there but not associated yourself with it) that the deal has been done"
• 50% reduction by 2050 and 80% by industrialised countries by 2050 - not included in Accord
• Kyoto protocol and a new instrument?
• 100 countries with miniscule economies
• countries will sign up themselves - freedom to decide whether to be in or out
• before COP 16 at Mexico City need to achieve legally binding treaty under the FCCC, continuation of Kyoto Protocol etc