ABU DHABI: Copenhagen 15 was over-hyped by the media, expected too many national freedoms to be given up but left a window for progress open. So opined Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, UAE’s minister of environment and water in a tough-minded address at the plenary session of the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
He asked the delegates to admit the 15th conference failed to achieve the desired international conformity with respect to facing climate change. Moreover, the outcome was disappointing judging by the opinions of many participants and observers.
“In my opinion, the disappointment was a by-product of the high ceiling of the demands and the expectations that preceded the conference, where it has been portrayed, especially by the media, as the last chance to save the world from a certain disaster.”
Bin Fahad added that most of the negotiations were based on purely political and economic grounds rather than scientific ones and were reflected in the Copenhagen Accord which pointed out that socioeconomic development and fighting poverty were the vital priorities of the developing countries.
He saw the limited consensus of opinion as a small but significant step forward that left room to set a workable agendum in time for the next conference. The most important outcome was, he said, the pledges of industrialized countries — about $30 billion through 2010-2012 to assist the developing countries, especially the most vulnerable developing countries.
The “Copenhagen Green Fund,” a financial mechanism to help the developing countries establish and implement the measures of mitigation and adaptation including capacity building and technology transfer, was a supplementary bonus.
Bin Fahad noted that while all the participating countries agreed to reduce their emissions, “most of them refused to commit to certain rates or timeframe. Hence, such a refusal raises many question marks on the seriousness of their approach towards the issue of reducing or limiting emissions.” He gave the US, China and Europe as examples of emitters who could not agree to commit to solid percentage reductions or time frame to reduce their emissions.
The accord decided in principle to mobilize financial resources of $30 billion for the years 2010-2012 to help the developing countries to place and implement procedures to reduce their emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. It also committed to raise $100 billion annually starting from 2020 for the same reasons passing a decision to establish four funds. “Yet, the accord did not clarify the sources of such funding, how the money are to be distributed and the systems by which these funds operate.”
Turning to the WFES he said its success should be judged on the developments that follow. “If we succeed to invest the results of the summit to reach a comprehensive international agreement in a short time to achieve the ultimate goal of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, we will be able to state that the Copenhagen Summit has succeeded in paving the way to avoid the catastrophic outcome of the climate change phenomenon.”
He concluded by insisting that a special priority should be given to aid the developing countries to own the human and technical capabilities able to face the impacts of climate change. “It is the only way to ensure the contribution of the developing countries to the international efforts without hindering their own efforts to achieve sustainable development and growth.”
It was ironic therefore that the afternoon’s plenary session, which was about the development and potentials of developing countries and their ability to use existing technology to produce energy from biomass — Brazilian ethanol in particular — attracted fewer than 100 attendees.
