TWN Info Service on Climate Change (Jan10/01)
15 January 2010
Third World Network

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are pleased to send you the attached article “The Real Tragedy of Copenhagen” by Martin Khor, executive director of South Centre, that has just been published in the journal Economic and Political Weekly (India), dated 2 January 2010 (Vol. XLV No 1). A comprehensive analysis of the fracas in Copenhagen and what was left out in the political 3-page Copenhagen Accord is provided. It concludes that Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change remain able to consider what is a fair and equitable way to share the costs and burdens of adjustment to a climate-friendly world when negotiations resume in 2010.

According to the blurb:
“The Copenhagen Accord drawn up after the UN climate conference in December is only three pages long. What is left out is probably more important than what it contains. The so-called deal, which the governments only “took note of” and was not adopted, does not mention any figures for emission reduction that the developed countries are to undertake after 2012. However, the larger failure was that while Copenhagen should have been designed as a stepping stone, and not as a final conclusion, western political leaders tried to hijack the legitimate multilateral process of negotiations that had been taking place before Copenhagen and at Copenhagen itself. What the world ended up with was a disaster of a meeting and a document”.

With best wishes,
Third World Network

The Real Tragedy of Copenhagen