The world reflects on Copenhagen process

20/12-2009 by Morten Andersen

When leaders from USA, China, Brazil, India and South Africa sat down together Friday night to draft the Copenhagen Accord which on Saturday became the outcome of the UN conference on climate change, it marked a process that was quite different from the normal procedures of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This has led some spectators to call for a change.

“We need to start investigating other options, or at a minimum start using some alternative forums,” Andrew Light, Coordinator of International Climate Policy at the Center for American Progress, tells Reuters, suggesting the Group of 20 (G-20) and the Major Economies Forum.

Jennifer Morgan, director of the World Resource Institute’s climate and energy program, says:

“I don’t think it’s the end of the UN’s climate role but it’s a new model inside of it (…) heads of state came in and crafted a deal a bit independently of the UN process. There’ll still be many roles for the UNFCCC to fulfil.”

Even though Brazil was part of the somewhat alternative process at the Copenhagen summit, its climate change ambassador strongly advocates for UNFCCC to remain the center of future negotiations.

“You won’t get an agreement involving only a limited number of countries. Perhaps on some occasions they can be a driving force to mobilize the others, but they will never close a deal by themselves, because this deal will lack legitimacy. So the UN will certainly remain at the heart of it,” Sergio Serra tells Reuters, while Dessima Williams, head of AOSIS (the Alliance of Small Island States) comments:

“The UN process is secure. I think there may have been confidences jolted but the process is not going to be derailed. What is necessary now is some fence mending and yes some confidence building around the outcome of the conference.”

Another diversion in procedure is the fact that the Copenhagen Accord has not been adopted by the COP15, only “taken note of”. This implies that the countries that are parties to the UNFCCC may now decide to sign or not to sign on. According to Danish daily Politiken, 188 countries are likely to sign on. Only five countries – Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Sudan and Venezuela – seem unwilling to sign on at this point.

“We have made the vehicle ready. Now it is up to the countries to decide if they want to ride it. I hope the many (countries) that supported the text this night (Friday night) will sign on, although many will probably be uneasy as to what that would lead to,” Politiken quotes UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer (photo above) as saying Saturday.

According to Politiken, Yvo de Boer judges the Copenhagen conference to have been “a political success”:

“Never before have we seen so many world leaders gathered in the stride for the climate. Even though it appeared to be very difficult (to get an agreement) 115 heads of state or governments chose to come to Copenhagen and engage. This is what we need to build on.”