Copenhagen: A Pending Weak Agreement

Here’s what everyone’s been waiting for: the Copenhagen climate deal. It still hasn’t been voted on by the delegates and it’s about as weak as could be coming out of a negotiation process that’s been filled with controversy, stalemates and political posturing. But the White House and President Obama have just announced that a Copenhagen Accord has been reached. Obama said because of weather issues, he’s leaving Copenhagen before the official vote.

According to the New York Times’ analysis of the accord, the document leaves out a call for a binding agreement in 2010, doesn’t set midterm targets for developed nations, only a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, and leaves out many other specifics. All in all it seems like a document that does little in the way of setting hard emissions targets for countries and that will need much more negotiations. But yep, it’s an agreement. Initial reactions from 350.org’s Bill McKibben are angry about the U.S. jumping the gun:

This is a declaration that small and poor countries don’t matter, that international civil society doesn’t matter, and that serious limits on carbon don’t matter. The president has wrecked the UN and he’s wrecked the possibility of a tough plan to control global warming. It may get Obama a reputation as a tough American leader, but it’s at the expense of everything progressives have held dear. 189 countries have been left powerless, and the foxes now guard the carbon henhouse without any oversight.

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