Topic: 6.Viewpoints

Does the Copenhagen climate accord give hope?

The UN Climate Change Conference in ‘the port of hope’ – Copenhagen – from December 7 to 19, 2009, raised and lowered hopes. Anyway, the conference is not a total failure as some would call it. The accusation is that what is agreed upon will not limit the temperature rise within 2oC, the upper limit for the healthy survival of humanity. But here are three reasons why the conference is a success.


First, it is a massive conference unprecedented involving not only represented by more than 110 heads of state or government, but also different shades of civil society organizations. The 50,000-strong international gathering could not be handled by Danish police and they had to call the Swede police as well. I had been a witness to the official deliberations, seminars held as side events, and protests by civil society activists. From the day one, several developing countries made strong statements that climate change is the creation of developed countries because of their extravagant lifestyles propelled by extensive use of fossil fuels. Developing countries also said that developed countries had been exploiting their resources down the colonial era. Speakers pointed out the futility of going in for another agreement when what was agreed upon by 37 developed countries as part of the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012 is not honoured. Even when the Copenhagen Accord was agreed upon on the final day of the conference, some of the developing countries made vehement criticisms. Tuvalu, the tiny Pacific island nation, said the accord was like the Biblical trade-off for “thirty pieces of silver”.

Second, the United States which had been the biggest polluter before China overtook it in recent years because of the latter’s size of population is not a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol set the emission reduction targets for developed countries which have a historic responsibility to reduce emissions given their fossil fuel-based development. There was time when the United States was saying that the American way of life was non-negotiable. That is, Americans will not give up or compromise on their consumerist lifestyle so as to reduce greenhouse emissions to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. But in Copenhagen, the United States has taken a pro-active step in joining hands with other countries in bringing about an accord, though falling short of expectations.

Third, BASIC countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China – along with the United States were the core countries to bring about the Copenhagen Accord. For the first time, such a shift in power centre has taken place. This may go a long way in India gaining a permanent membership in the UN Security Council. As Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told The Week, “I think one good think about Copenhagen is that for the first time Indians were not seen as being negative or obstructionist. And there is widespread recognition of the constructive role that we played. We were not sanctimonious as we normally are. We were not argumentative as we usually are. We have to protect our national interest, but we have to do so in a dignified manner.”

Dr. I. Arul Aram

(The writer is an Associate Professor of Science Communication in Anna University Chennai.)