Instead, the only result was the ‘Copenhagen Accord’, a document simply affirming that world politicians accept that climate change should be limited to below 2 degrees Celsius, but provides no action or commitment to do so. 20 years of presenting the science to politicians, 2 years working towards this conference, 2 weeks negotiating the text, and all that has been achieved is a disputed piece of paper claiming that our leaders would like to see climate chaos limited, but not enough to actually put anything on the line.
So where did it go wrong? Many countries have been blamed for its failure, with various blocs accusing each other. Most environmental groups have laid the blame squarely at the feet of western governments, especially America. The main accusation is that on the final day, 25 of the most influential countries met privately to produce the watered down accord, which was then forced upon the other delegates with the threat of... (read more)
