“Meaningful Deal” Reached at Copenhagen…

The much hyped and talked about Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, hailed as the most important meeting on climate change to date, is drawing to a close. Much debate has occurred over what actions must be taken to prevent dangerous climate change to our environment, but most of the debate was about damage limitation to the economies of world leaders.

After months of discussion and the climax of the climate change talks in Copenhagen, US President Barack Obama proclaimed that a meaningful deal had been reached to the worlds press. Good news yes? Well it would be if it were true. Here is what was actually achieved in Copenhagen:

193 countries “recognize the scientific view that” they need to limit global temperatures rising no more than 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels.

Thats about it… There is NO legally binding agreement to any country on any further actions on curbing emissions or contributions to climate change. The deal “promises” to deliver $30bn (£18.5bn) of aid for developing nations over the next three years, despite UN recommendations that rich countries provide $100 billion per year in aid to developing nations most vulnerable to climate change.

The implementation of the dubbed “Copenhagen Accord” will be reviewed 2015, about a year-and-a-half after the next scientific assessment of the global climate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

So what does this mean for us and for climate change? Well quite frankly it means nothing. It is certainly as far from a “meaningful deal” as you could possibly get. After climate change has been so vigorously shoved into the limelight, it is likely to go quiet over the next few years, until we hear the updated statistics and forecasts from the IPCC in 4 years time. With the worlds economy in the state it is in right now, you can bet that we will see little if no effort by major polluters between now and 2015 of becoming greener, as in the eyes of world leaders and business CEO’s, the inconvenience of adapting to greener ways is far too costly to bother, when they will face no punishment for failing to act now.

I have said it many times, world leaders and big business leaders (who often arguably have more power) prioritize economies and making money over human lives and quality of life. As long as they do this taking action on climate change is too big a risk to take. When you reverse it and value the people of this world over businesses and money the way it should be, not taking action on climate change now is too big a risk to take. It’s a sad world we live in.