COP process, history

I have attended COP13 in Bali, COP14 in Poznań, COP15 in Copenhagen, COP17 in Durban, COP18 in Doha, COP19 in Warsaw and will hopefully attend COP21 next year in Paris. I truly hope that the UNFCCC will be able to achieve a global, legally binding climate deal next year but I have reservations.

COP15 in Copenhagen should have been a turning point. It was a unique opportunity to set the world on the right path to avoid catastrophic climate change. For two days, most of the world's leaders congregated under one roof for a common purpose. Attended by 119 Heads of State, COP15 was the largest gathering of its kind held outside of the annual UN General Assembly in New York. The highlight was the attendance of US President Obama.

The two weeks of meetings, extending late into the night, marked the culmination of two years of intensive negotiations. The conference was the focus of unprecedented public and media attention. And yet, the result - the Copenhagen Accord - was a shameful compromise.

The words "legally binding" were conspicuously absent from the three-page text of the Copenhagen Accord. The Accord was merely "politically binding" for those countries that chose to sign up to it. Furthermore, it did not set emissions reduction targets for either 2020 or 2050, nor did it set a deadline by which the action points should become legally binding.

The French newspaper Liberation lamented the speed and commitment to saving the planet compared with saving the global financial system: "We must make the bitter observation: when it comes to rescuing the banking system, the dialogue has been far more effective and determined. It is clearly easier to save finance, than it is to save the planet." Since COP15 expectations have been declining steadily with each conference. At COP20, they are at an all-time low.

After having seen the discussions in the Plenary this morning, I wonder how much we've learned since Copenhagen.