07 December 2009 - Copenhagen,
Denmark — The countdown to Copenhagen is
over and the time for excuses has run out.
Next week, more
than 100 heads of state will answer your
call to come to Copenhagen and take personal
responsibility for the future of climate
change.
Government negotiators
will spend the next 10 days laying the groundwork
for the heads of state show, which begins
next week. Their task is to reach a deal
that is fair to all countries, ambitious
in emissions cuts and legally binding. All
of the pieces are in place to make this
happen; success or failure is down to the
level of political will the heads of state
bring to the table. It’s now up to the leaders
to decide if we get a fair deal.
As the negotiations
start, we will all watch to see who will
take the lead in the shaping of the new
climate treaty. In recent weeks, many of
the larger developing countries have put
new commitments on the table, and both India
and China have pledged to reduce the carbon
intensity linked to their economic growth.
Rich nations, however, are still shirking
responsibility for their historical contribution
to climate change or the greater resources
they have available to combat it.
In particular, the US
has offered a paltry 4 percent emissions
cut based on 11000 levels by 2020, when
the science calls for at least 40 percent
by then. However, it’s not all bad news,
South Africa has emerged as a frontrunner
in the ‘COP15 conference star’ stakes by
announcing emissions reductions targets
of 34% below business as usual over the
next 10 years, and 42 percent by 2025 -
a step up from their previous target. This
directly challenges all industrialised countries
to step it up and commit to ambitious targets
needed to slow climate change.
More than 10 million
of you have called for our leaders to sign
a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement.
TckTckTck’s petition was handed over to
key figures at the climate talks today:
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer,
Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke
Rasmussen and COP 15 President and Danish
Climate Minster Connie Hedegaard.
TckTckTck chair and Greenpeace International
Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said the
size of the petition demonstrated the huge
groundswell of support for world leaders
to deal with climate change.
What does the success
look like?
Here are the four critical points:
?Emissions from industrialised
countries must be cut by 40% from 11000
levels by 2020;
?Financing from industrialised countries
to the tune of $140 billion a year for developing
countries to deal with climate impacts,
act on climate change and stop deforestation;
?The end of tropical deforestation by 2020;
?And developing countries must reduce their
projected emissions growth by 15-30% by
2020, again with support from industrialised
countries.
The road to Copenhagen
The UN climate summit is the culmination
of a two-year negotiating process that began
in Bali, Since then, the talks have been
repeatedly stalled by a complete lack of
ambition by the US, first under President
Bush and then by President Obama’s inability
to lead on the climate issue.
The crunch issues
The real key to progress in Copenhagen is
resolution and agreement on the crunch issues
-- those key elements that will put the
world on a path to staying as far below
a 2 degree C temperature as possible. That
is what the science demands and what is
required to ensure the survival of the world’s
most vulnerable countries and people and,
ultimately, all of humanity.
Science says we must, technology says we
can, it is time for politicians to say we
will.
