Political will to forge a new global treaty to tackle climate change will never be stronger, and delegates simply cannot fail, climate leaders said on Monday at the opening of the highly-anticipated climate change talks in Copenhagen.
“The clock has ticked down to zero,” said the United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer at the opening ceremony. “After two years of negotiations, the time has come to deliver.”
Government delegates were urged by Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen, who gave the opening address, to have an agreed text ready for when more than 110 world leaders will attend the talks in the Danish capital at the climax of the conference next week.
“Your leaders do not come to Copenhagen just to talk, they come to act,” he said. “As we move ahead, we will rely critically on you to help develop an agreement that’s acceptable to all parties, one that is ambitious just it is equitable, effective and operational.”
“For the next two weeks, Copenhagen will be Hopenhagen. By the end, we must be able to deliver back to the world what was granted us here today: hope for a better future,” he added.
Former Danish climate minister and conference president Connie Hedegaard, also cautioned delegates: “Let me warn you, political will will never be stronger. If we miss this opportunity, it could take years before we get another, better opportunity - if we even do.”
She singled out countries such as China, Brazil and Singapore, as recent examples of the gathering momentum amongst countries to pledge economy-wide actions to curb emissions.
For those that still hold back ambition, fearing that economies will suffer, Ms Hedegaard said: “We don’t have to choose between economic growth and conservation. A global deal will drive job creation, competitiveness, and energy security. So let’s get it done. The time has come to set the
right course for our world while we still can”.
The two-week marathon of negotiations to achieve a successful global treaty to tackle climate change finally began today after two years of preparations since the 192 parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in Bali in 2007.
The conference kicked off after some hiccups on Sunday, which included a bomb scare that led Danish police to refuse entry to delegates and media for over an hour while they investigated. The conference has been declared UN territory, with about 15,000 delegates, journalists and observers attending.
Delegates now have to race against time to draft a treaty that will deliver a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as implement adaptation, technology and capacity-building for developing countries.
The agreement must also include both start-up funding and a long-term vision on a low-carbon future for the world, said UNFCCC’s Mr de Boer, who has mooted the idea of a proposed fund of $10 billion each year for the next three years to help poor countries adapt to climate change.
A legally-binding treaty is expected to take effect at the end of 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends.
Delegates at the Bella Centre, where the conference is taking place, no doubt face “sleepless days and nights” over the course of the negotiations, said Copenhagen’s mayor Ritt Bjerregard. “But I know you can do a good job,” she added.
At the start of the ceremony, delegates were shown a short film depicting children of the future facing an apocalypse of tsunamis and desert landscapes if world leaders failed to act in Copenhagen. “Please help to save the world,” said the lead child actress of the film, at the end, which was followed by other children across the globe echoing her words. A choir of Danish girls then presented a song item to delegates, accompanied by a brass ensemble, featuring a solo trumpet and harp.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairman Rajendra Pachuari, who also spoke at the ceremony, reiterated the science behind why governments have to act now to tackle climate change. Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, he said, with increase in global average temperatures of 0.74 deg C, the documented melting of snow and ice, and rising sea levels of 17 centimetres in the recent decades.
He also hit out against climate sceptics, referring to the recent “Climategate” incident that involved the theft of emails from University of East Anglia, which he said shows “how some will go to the extent to carry out illegal acts to discredit the IPCC”.
“The science provides us with the basis for undertaking changes that this conference will urgently initiate, and some find it inconvenient to accept its inevitability,” he said.
He added that the panel has tens of thousands of scientists contributing to reports, which have undergone a robust peer review process, subjected to extensive and repeated review by experts and governments.
At a press briefing, Ms Hedegaard told reporters that financing could prove a major sticking point at the talks for a successful deal. But she said: “Don’t think for one moment it’s easy to postpone a decision like this.”
It is extremely difficult to convene the whole world in one place, “so we must take this opportunity to act”, she added.
Climate activists, on the other hand, have been busy making their statements to help the process in different ways. Some 20 Greenpeace activists stood outside the conference entrance yesterday (7/12) while banging on drums and singing a song that urged leaders to “Act now”, while others have chosen ice sculptures of a melting polar bear in the city centre to make its point.
At the press briefing, one campaigner from Figi broke down in tears in front of UN bigwigs while calling for a successful deal to prevent the devastation of islands like hers. She spoke as part of the “tcktcktck” campaign which presented a petition signed by 10 million people calling for a global deal to Mr de Boer and Ms Hedegaard.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mr Rasmussen said that the country has tried its best to limit the carbon footprint of the event, such as reducing wastage and providing organic food. Instead of giving delegates souvenirs, Denmark has chosen to use that money instead to give out 11 climate scholarships to youths across the world to undergo a two-year Masters Programme in a Danish university.
Copenhagen’s mayor Ms Bjerregard said the city was aiming to be the first to go carbon neutral by 2025. “We have 50 specific initaitives to achieve this target, including a 20 per cent reduction in Co2 emissions 2005 to 2015”.
Mr Rasmussen concluded by saying: “The sheer magnitude of our task is matched only by our determination… the deal is within reach, together we can accomplish what must be accomplished.”
