Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Consensus at Copenhagen Climate Change Talks crucial for the future of the planet

Hopes are up that Copenhagen will lay the foundation for a new global climate change consensus as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. It has been recognised that the economic crisis has aided the halting of industrial emissions growth, giving further hope to ambitious targets in Copenhagen. Environment ministers and officials are meeting at a UN summit in Copenhagen in December to thrash out a global deal on climate change. The COP15, short for the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has an extensive agenda.

Officials will try to agree a new climate treaty as a successor to the Kyoto protocol, the first phase of which expires in 2012. Copenhagen is set to determine several important issues such as how much industrialised countries are willing to reduce their emissions, and how much major developing countries such as India and China are willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions.

Countries must strive hard for a consensus on ambitious 2020 emissions targets and carbon trading to limit the damage that will be caused by global warming.

For more information please visit: http://unfccc.int/

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