The CTRM Blog

COP15 (the United Nations climate talks) in Copenhagen came to a close on December 18 after a tumultuous two weeks in which emotions and expectations rose and fell on a daily basis. In the end, COP15 produced a relatively weak political agreement that committed to keep global warming at 2°C or less and promised $30 billion in funding to battle climate change by 2012. It also created a framework for international transparency on climate actions for both developed and developing nations. The deal allows each country to attach their national actions and mechanisms for combating climate change and to then provide information on those actions. The accord is not legally binding.

While COP15 probably fell short of expectations, some of the high-minded agenda items, such as a proposal to create an international body for monitoring national commitments having the power to penalize those not meeting their targets, were always going to prove a tricky issue. As was the idea of essentially making developed countries pay ”reparations” to the developing world for their CO2 emissions to date. In reality, the deal still has to be ratified by the broader United Nations (UN) and that may not prove easy either.