Key issues

The 2009 UN Climate Conference is taking place on December 9-18 in Copenhagen.
Environment ministries and officials will meet in order to reach a new agreement on climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol – the actual agreement on carbon emissions that expires in 2012. The COP15 summit – the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) – is part of a series of annual meetings  undertaken under the broader  umbrella of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Cop15 website

Calendar
Groups and strategic alliances

Key issues
The climate change policy process is basically focused on the necessary actions to: cope with climate change and prevent worsening scenarios; shift to a low carbon society and economy; support vulnerable countries to adapt.
More concretely this means for all countries to reach an agreement on: mid-term emission reduction targets of industrialised countries; actions for developing countries to reduce greenhouse emissions; amount of financial recourses to support adaptation costs for poor countries; institutional framework; reduction of emissions originating from deforestation and forest degradation.

Climate negotiations
Burden sharing is undoubtedly the most delicate issue of the negotiation, being at the origin of division between developing and industrialised countries.
Strictly connected to burden sharing is the quantification of  emission reduction targets and financial resources for adaptation. On one side developing countries major fear is to see their economic progress compromised by a too demanding agreement; they are also concerned to possible disproportions between their emission levels and quota of repayment. On the other side, industrialised countries, especially the USA, are worried that the agreement may result an overarching committment only for one side of the table. In other words they fear to be the only ones to reduce emissions  and thus to subsidize competition in the developing world by doing so.

Some developing countries have generated in the last years large emissions in absolute terms while their per capita emissions remains low. A point in case is China that has replaced the US as one of the largest greenhouse gas emitting country (Source: World Economic and Social Survey 2009). Such countries prefer that emissions reduction is calculated on the basis of their per capita emissions. This is contrasting with rich nations, such as USA and EU, calling for a greater responsibility of countries like China and Brasil in burden sharing, since their carbon footprint is getting more and more significant.

On the other hand, some countries of the group of the Economies in Transition,  do register high per capita levels of emissions since they are highly dependendent on coal industry.  When it comes to define their  share of financial contribution, these countries are worried that their ability to pay is compromised if calculations are made on the basis of  per capita emissions (instead of wealth).  Again, this is at odds with  the  Emerging Economies.

This partially explains the existing gap among different groups of countries and strategic alliances.

Countries’ negotiating positions (The Guardian)

Civil Society statement on climate change (IPS)

Climate change and development
Developing countries have the double challenge of furthering their industrialisation and urban expansion while at the same sustaining the costs of shifting to low carbon economy.
Some of the agreed measures and policies (such as carbon trading), if not accompanied by adequate financial resources and a systemic plan of action that is inclusive of sectoral policies (ex. trade and intellectual property rights),  may let to envisage the risk to worsen rather than reduce the divide between rich and poor countries. With the result of greater poverty and inequalities.

What is often undermined is that projects of industrial and technological rehabilitation – if not well designed and  coordinated – may generate an even worst impact on the environment in which we live. Paradoxically, it may happen that the effort may not be climate resilient and cost effective at all.

Watch the Video: The Gr8 Climate Sale by Walden Bello, Focus on Global South.

Moreover, climate change is not only about greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
Climate change is also about the impact on people and society, in particular on those groups and communities who are at the margins of society, both in rich and poor nations.
According to Oxfam, “climate change is fundamentally a development crisis”. Hundreds of millions of people are becoming increasingly vulnerable and insecure in their access to natural resources (water, land, forest, etc.), livelihoods, food and health. People displacement, drought, famine, land losses are some of the consequences of climate changes. A change of mindset from climate change to climate justice is necessary in order to find solutions that safeguard the environment where we live, and mostly important put the dignity of people first.

See also:  Background information and Resources