Copenhagen Accord

The Copenhagen Accord is a document which delegates at the 15th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to "take note of" at the final plenary on 18 December 2009.

The Accord, drafted by, on the one hand, the United States and on the other, in a united position as the BASIC countries (China, India, South Africa, and Brazil), is not legally binding and does not commit countries to agree to a binding successor to the Kyoto Protocol, whose round ended in 2012.

Summary

The Accord:
* Endorses the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol.
* Underlines that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and emphasises a "strong political will to urgently combat climate change in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities"
* To prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, recognizes "the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be below 2 degrees Celsius", in a context of sustainable development, to combat climate change.
* Recognizes "the critical impacts of climate change and the potential impacts of response measures on countries particularly vulnerable to its adverse effects" and stresses "the need to establish a comprehensive adaptation programme including international support"
* Recognizes that "deep cuts in global emissions are required according to science" ( IPCC AR4) and agrees cooperation in peaking (stopping from rising) global and national greenhouse gas emissions "as soon as possible" and that "a low-emission development strategy is indispensable to sustainable development"
* States that "enhanced action and international cooperation on adaptation is urgently required to... reduce vulnerability and build.. resilience in developing countries, especially in those that are particularly vulnerable, especially least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS) and Africa" and agrees that "developed countries shall provide adequate, predictable and sustainable financial resources, technology and capacity-building to support the implementation of adaptation action in developing countries"
*For mitigation purposes, agrees that developed countries (Annex I Parties) would "commit to economy-wide emissions targets for 2020", to be submitted by 31 January 2010, and agrees that these Parties to the Kyoto Protocol would strengthen their existing targets. Delivery of reductions and finance by developed countries will be measured, reported and verified (MRV) in accordance with COP guidelines.
* Agrees that developing nations (non-Annex I Parties) would "implement mitigation actions" (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions) to slow growth in their carbon emissions, submitting these by 31 January 2010. LDS and SIDS may undertake actions voluntarily and on the basis of (international) support.
* Agrees that developing countries would report those actions once every two years via the U.N. climate change secretariat, subjected to their domestic MRV. s seeking international support will be subject to international MRV
* Recognizes "the crucial role of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation and the need to enhance removals of greenhouse gas emission by forests", and the need to establish a mechanism (including REDD-plus) to enable the mobilization of financial resources from developed countries to help achieve this
*Decides to pursue opportunities to use markets to enhance the cost-effectiveness of, and to promote, mitigation actions.
*Developing countries, especially these with low-emitting economies should be provided incentives to continue to develop on a low-emission pathway
* States that "scaled up, new and additional, predictable and adequate funding as well as improved access shall be provided to developing countries... to enable and support enhanced action"
*Agrees that developed countries would raise funds of $30 billion from 2010–2012 of new and additional resources
* Agrees a "goal" for the world to raise $100 billion per year by 2020, from "a wide variety of sources", to help developing countries cut carbon emissions (mitigation). New multilateral funding for adaptation will be delivered, with a governance structure.
* Establishes a Copenhagen Green Climate Fund, as an operating entity of the financial mechanism, "to support projects, programme, policies and other activities in developing countries related to mitigation". To this end, creates a High Level Panel
* Establishes a Technology Mechanism "to accelerate technology development and transfer...guided by a country-driven approach"
* Calls for "an assessment of the implementation of the Accord to be completed by 2015. This would include consideration of strengthening the long-term goal", for example to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees.

Emissions pledges

To date, countries representing over 80% of global emissions have engaged with the Copenhagen Accord. 31 January 2010 was an initial deadline set under the Accord for countries to submit emissions reduction targets, however UNFCCC Secretary Yvo De Boer later clarified that this was a "soft deadline". Countries continue to submit pledges past this deadline. A selection of reduction targets is shown below. All are for the year 2020.

Compared to 1990:
* EU: 20% – 30%
* Japan: 25%
* Russia: 15% – 25%
* Ukraine: 20%

Compared to 2000:
* Australia: 5% – 25%

Compared to 2005:
* Canada: 17%
* US: 17%

Compared to business as usual:
* Brazil: 36.1% – 38.9%
* Indonesia: 26%
* Mexico: 30%
* South Africa: 34%
* South Korea: 30%

Carbon intensity compared to 2005:
* China: 40% – 45%
* India: 20% – 25%

China also promised to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 15% by 2020, and increase forest coverage by 40 million hectares and forest stock volume by 1.3 billion cubic meters by 2020 from the 2005 levels.

Responses

*The G77 said that the Accord would only secure the economic security of a few nations.
*Australia was happy overall but "wanted more".
*India was "pleased", while noting that the Accord "did not constitute a mandate for future commitment".
*United States said that the agreement would need to be built on in the future, and that "We've come a long way but we have much further to go."
*United Kingdom said "We have made a start" but that the agreement needed to become legally binding quickly. Gordon Brown also accused a small number of nations of holding the Copenhagen talks to ransom.
*China's delegation said that "The meeting has had a positive result, everyone should be happy." Wen Jiabao, China's premier, said that the weak agreement was due to distrust between nations: "To meet the climate change challenge, the international community must strengthen confidence, build consensus, make vigorous efforts and enhance co-operation."
*Brazil's climate change ambassador called the agreement "disappointing".
*Representatives of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (mainly Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba), Sudan, and Tuvalu were unhappy with the outcome.
*Bolivian president, Evo Morales said that, "The meeting has failed. It's unfortunate for the planet. The fault is with the lack of political will by a small group of countries led by the US."

Analysis

US Embassy dispatches released by whistleblowing site WikiLeaks showed how the US 'used spying, threats and promises of aid' to gain support for the Copenhagen Accord. The emergent US emissions pledge was the lowest by any leading nation.

The BBC
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