Copenhagen Accord? Just a Political Talk

I heard from TV news that the Copenhagen Summit has reached a deal while preparing my breakfast. I was surprised and kind of excited to know what's the content. I went to check the news about the "deal" of COP15. There is no real document has been published about this "deal" on internet yet, but they just said that they have reached "a meaningful agreement". Based on the news on COP15, I found out it is just a political talk.

What's a "meaningful agreement"? Apparently I have a different definition to those politician. There is no legally-binding treaty, no target date for finalising a deal (i.e. remove an end-2010 deadline for reaching a legally binding treaty), no any more aim for emission curbs to be verifiable, and only said that "a target of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 degree Celsius rise over pre-industrial times" and "holds out the prospect of $100 billion in annual aid from 2020 for developing nations".

It is really funny. We all agree that we need to reduce the temperature rise long long time ago before this conference. But how to reach this goal is the real problem. And now they just said that we want this goal, but no practical details and enforcement for countries about how to get to this goal. It looks like a joke for me. Nice talk is easy, but act is difficult. Then it is just a lip service.

==== some links ====
US, China, India and South Africa reach deal (Associated Press, 18/12/2009 22:25)
According to a senior Obama administration official the United States, China, India and South Africa have reached a "meaningful agreement" on climate change Friday evening.

Obama reaches climate deal with emerging powers (The Reuters, Pete Harrison and Jeff Mason COPENHAGEN Fri Dec 18, 2009 6:03pm EST)
..... A draft text under discussion on Friday included $100 billion in climate aid annually by 2020 for poor countries to combat climate change, and targets to limit warming and halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But it abandoned earlier ambitions for any deal in Copenhagen to be turned into a legally binding treaty next year.

..... Under the five-nation agreement, rich and poor nations had agreed to a "finance mechanism," emissions cuts to curb global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, and "to provide information on the implementation of their actions."

..... "Given where we started and the expectations for this conference, anything less than a legally binding and agreed outcome falls far short of the mark," said John Ashe, chair the Kyoto talks under the United Nations.

COP15: Saving the planet or saving face? (Richard Black, 15:46 UK time, Friday, 18 December 2009)
1641 CET: We're into a strange dark limbo-land here.

The draft political agreement that leaders are supposed to sign today has gone through more changes than Eva Longoria at an awards ceremony.

The latest version, we're told, sheds many of the frills. It's a jeans and t-shirt job compared with the detailed couture of earlier today.

What we have, we're told, doesn't contain a commitment to a legally-binding treaty, doesn't endorse an explicit temperature target, doesn't have a target date for finalising a deal, and doesn't any more aim for emission curbs to be verifiable.

Copenhagen a cop-out (19 December 2009P, Greenpeace)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Two years have passed since world leaders promised all of us a deal to stop climate change. After two weeks of UN negotiations, politicians breezed in, had dinner with the Queen, a three hour lunch, took some photos and then delivered what could only be described as the 24 hour Head of State tourist brochure of Copenhagen instead of a climate treaty.

Don’t believe the hype, there is nothing fair, ambitious or legally binding about this deal. The job of world leaders is not done. Today they shamefully failed to save us all from the effects of catastrophic climate change.

The city of Copenhagen is a climate crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport in shame. World leaders had a once in a generation chance to change the world for good, to avert catastrophic climate change. What we needed was a legally binding agreement that was fair to developing countries and ambitious when it came to emissions cuts and ending deforestation. In the end they produced a poor deal full of loopholes big enough to fly Air Force One through. We’ve seen a year of crises, but today it is clear that the biggest one facing humanity is a leadership crisis.


NOpenhagen as global leaders COP out of meaningful climate deal (01:09 19.12.09, European Greens)
Two years of arduous UN negotiations to produce a binding global climate deal look to have ended in failure. Greens have commented on the outcome.