Radio Australia Today Editorial

Copenhagen: Waiting for Mexico City

21 December 2009

Can’t really see what the positives are out of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.

Except maybe that the Pacific and Indian Ocean communities made their cases about their countries being destroyed by an increase in temperature.

And except maybe that world leaders, almost without exception, demonstrated that they knew how important it was to deal with climate change.

And I suppose they were taking the subject serious enough to agree, in a non-binding way, that they should not let the planet warm by more than two degrees.

Now each of the leaders have taken their entourages and gone home, where they have to sell the target to their constituents. And that is the reason why there was not a binding agreement set. It’s easy to say “we promise a two degree limit”, but such limits come at an economic cost, and a political cost.

Nevertheless, these governments had years of preparation for Copenhagen, and they still couldn’t do it.

One of the phrases that came into play here in Australia in the second half of this year was that we should wait for Copenhagen. The Opposition and some business groups urged the Rudd government not to rush through emissions laws, but wait until after the Copehagen summit before doing anything.

We are now at that time, and Copenhagen gave us no miracles, no cure-alls, no big answer.

So what next? The next-stage conference on climate change is set for Mexico City next year, It was supposed to deal with the minutae arising out of Copenhagen, but considering that all that came out of Copenhagen was minutae, perhaps Mexico City will be seen as the next saviour.

The leaders present at Copenhagen now have to act on their own. They have now lost any chance of an agreement that takes the responsibility for the ugly tasting emission reduction sandwich they will be forced to eat. The responsibility is now on their own shoulders. No-one is foolish enough to believe that Mexico will be a sandwich saviour.

And still the planet warms.

- Phil Kafcaloudes