UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009

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UN Climate Change Conference 2009
Logo COP15
Logo of the climate conference 2009Template: Infobox / maintenance / picture

place DenmarkDenmark Copenhagen , Denmark
date December 7-18, 2009
Attendees Members of the UNFCCC
Website www.cop15.dk

The UN climate conference in Copenhagen took place from December 7th to 18th, 2009 in the Bella Center . It was the 15th conference of the states parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and was the fifth meeting under the Kyoto Protocol . With around 27,000 participants, including 10,500 state delegates, the climate conference was "one of the largest meetings in the history of diplomacy" and was in In view of the result also described as "one of the least successful".

At the conference, the delegates only agreed on a “minimal consensus”. The Copenhagen Accord , a paper which is not binding under international law and which the signatory states have only "taken note of" but not formally adopted, mentions the goal of limiting global warming to less than 2 ° C compared to pre-industrial levels. In contrast, the 2007 Bali timetable provided for a binding set of rules for Copenhagen after 2012 for climate protection .

Background and goals

Bella Center convention center

The conference followed the “Climate Conference: Global Risks, Challenges and Choices”, a scientific conference that also took place in March 2009 at the Bella Center. The aim of the Framework Convention on Climate Change is to prevent dangerous disruption of the climate system. According to the United Nations Environment Program, this can only be achieved if global warming is limited to 2 degrees Celsius . The European Union adopted this goal as its own in the mid-1990s. It means that greenhouse gas emissions in developed industrial countries must be reduced by 80 to 95 percent by 2050 (compared to 1990).

Negotiations were held in advance at conferences in Bonn, Barcelona and Bangkok. The preliminary negotiations of the Ad Hoc Working Group under the Kyoto Protocol ( AWG-KP ) were still far from reaching a result. A preliminary draft agreement has already been published.

Interests of the participants

The participating states also had different negotiation goals due to their different framework conditions. In the USA, the national climate protection law was just being discussed in the Senate; the country is deeply divided on climate policy issues. Although the government has recently been able to regulate greenhouse gas emissions without the Senate, US President Barack Obama is looking for a legislative solution involving the Senate in order to avoid massive domestic political resistance. The countries with high economic growth not previously affected by the reduction commitments, such as India and the People's Republic of China , saw the goal of updating the Kyoto Protocol, but wanted to prevent them from having to make binding concessions themselves (for example, see India). Other key roles in the negotiation process were assigned to individual EU countries. As early as October 2009 at the Bangkok conference, the developing and emerging countries under Chinese leadership accused the industrialized countries of sabotaging a possible agreement in Copenhagen at the expense of the poorer countries.

A large number of environmental protection organizations and NGOs were involved in the context of the conference. The environmental organization Greenpeace , which was accredited as an observer at the conference , presented the unspecified demand for a "binding and ambitious" negotiation conclusion at a gala dinner in the presence of the Danish Queen under the motto politicians speak, leaders act . On the other hand, controversial opinions on the current way of dealing with climate change and on possible solutions were expressed, such as by Survival International , an NGO for indigenous peoples, according to which some countermeasures to climate change such as biofuels, hydropower plants and protective measures for certain types of jungle have clearly negative consequences for indigenous peoples to have.

In addition to the official delegates and accredited NGO envoys, many private individuals also came to protest for a fair climate agreement. The majority of the registered demonstrations were organized by the Network for Climate Justice Action. During the protests, various activists repeatedly pointed out the democratic deficit in the negotiations and in the structures of the United Nations. The heads of delegations of the European and Pan-African Parliaments shared this opinion, calling for the decision-making processes to be renewed.

The Danish government and local industry representatives promoted Danish environmental technology at the conference as part of a public-private partnership .

Events in advance

In November 2009, among others, around 60 Nobel Prize winners appealed to the heads of government to come to an agreement in Copenhagen on a workable climate agreement and to combat the problems associated with climate change.

In the run-up to the conference, the organized climate denial scene launched a campaign aimed at discrediting climate research . This campaign was based in particular on the emphasis on small errors in the IPCC's fourth assessment report and the publication of out of context emails from climate researchers that had previously been stolen by hackers . This artificially exaggerated scandal, known as "Climategate" , was circulated in particular by the US conservative press such as Fox News , the media of Rupert Murdoch and popular TV presenters such as Glenn Beck , Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity . Both of these factors led to a considerable loss of trust in climate research among the population, even if several studies showed that the climate researchers had not behaved in any way. Blogger Marc Morano in particular played an important role in the scandal . Among other things, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon commented on the affair at the conference and contradicted individual interpretations that the anthropogenic contribution to global warming could be called into question by the incident.

In the run-up to the conference, a meeting of mayors took place to present and coordinate regional climate protection measures.

Conference progress

Connie Hedegaard , head of the conference until the handover to the Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen on December 16, 2009.
The opening session of COP 15 on December 7th, 2009

The conference was initially chaired by former Danish Environment Minister and EU Climate Commissioner-designate Connie Hedegaard . After their resignation on December 16, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen took over the leadership of the negotiations, which he in turn gave up on the last day of the summit. The negotiation management and organization of the conference were described by the participants as chaotic and overwhelmed .

During the conference, the conflict with the developing countries escalated after an internal negotiating paper entitled Danish text was announced, which wanted to grant the developing countries lower CO 2 emission rights.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales demanded that the industrialized countries pay their "climate debt" to the countries of the south. In addition, global warming must be limited to a maximum of one degree Celsius by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times. He proposed to set up an international court for climate law. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez stressed that it is the rich countries that are destroying this planet. Seven percent of the world's population are responsible for 50 percent of the emissions, while the 50 percent at the lower end of the social scale only cause around seven percent of emissions. In the conflict between the United States and China, Chavez pointed out the inequality of guilt for global warming: “The United States has a population of just 300 million, and China has five times more people. The USA uses around 20 million barrels of oil a day, China has five or six million barrels ”.

The lack of agreement between China and the United States is considered to be essential for the failure. During the conference, according to newspaper reports, President Obama tried to find a compromise in direct negotiations with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao ; he met Wen in a round with the heads of government of India, Brazil and South Africa .

After an initial vote and an all-American press conference improvised late in the evening, Obama and Chancellor Merkel left without the American-Chinese compromise formula having been agreed with other negotiators from Europe, for example. This was rejected in the subsequent plenum; the Chinese side also moved away from the American success report. Bolivia , Venezuela , Nicaragua , Sudan and Saudi Arabia threatened with a veto, which would have caused the conference to be canceled. In contrast to Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi , who considered the compromise paper presented to be acceptable, Lumumba Di-Aping , the Sudanese chief negotiator of the Group of 77 , caused a scandal. The diplomat said in plenary that implementation would cost millions of lives. He also compared the refusal of the industrialized countries to provide the developing countries with extensive means to combat climate change without further preconditions with the genocide of European Jews , which was rejected outrageously from several sides. According to newspaper reports, some participants, including the Briton Ed Miliband , managed to avoid further escalation, put Di-Aping in his place and come to a conclusion of the conference.

The general protective measures, restrictions on the right to demonstrate in certain areas as well as protests and demonstrations in the vicinity of the conference led to the largest police operation in Danish history to date. The editors-in-chief of the German television stations ZDF and ARD demanded in a letter of protest that significant restrictions on reporting at the climate summit be lifted. A particular challenge was the proximity of the free city of Christiania in Copenhagen, which is considered the center of alternative culture in Denmark and which has already been the starting point for demonstrations and riots in the context of actions critical of globalization. A total of 1915 demonstrators were arrested and taken to the “climate prison ” in Valby , which consisted of cages in a multi-purpose hall.

In the run-up to the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015 , he reminded Amjad Abdulla , a representative of the island states, of the problems that had arisen during the negotiations: “We started with a draft that did not reflect the point of view of the developing countries and lost a day to reintegrate it . If we want to avoid another Copenhagen in Paris, we have to take this lesson to heart. "

At the UN Climate Change Conference in December 2015 (Paris), many of the mistakes that had apparently been made in Copenhagen were avoided.

Result

Protests surrounding the conference

The United Nations has neither achieved the goal of the Bali roadmap of adopting a legally binding successor regulation for the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen , nor the goal of a voluntary commitment to halve global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, which was often mentioned in the run-up to the conference in Copenhagen. The central final document, the “ Copenhagen Accord ”, is not legally binding, but for the first time contains, as a minimum consensus, the specific target of limiting global warming to less than 2 ° C compared to pre-industrial levels. How this can be achieved remained unclear. The delegates agreed neither on concrete targets for reducing greenhouse gases nor on a roadmap for further action.

However, the Copenhagen Accord can be signed by all member states of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Its main content: Global warming should be limited to less than 2 degrees Celsius. This requires “deep cuts in emissions”; However, there are no binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, the industrialized countries are to enter their respective reduction targets by 2020 in Annex I by the end of January 2010; Compliance with these voluntary commitments as well as financial support for poor countries should be monitored internationally in accordance with the guidelines of the Conference of the Parties . The non-industrialized countries should, also by the end of January 2010, register their activities to reduce global warming in Appendix II, which is updated every two years. You can monitor compliance yourself and must report the results; Measures financed by the industrialized countries are, like the measures of the industrialized countries, monitored internationally. The importance of preserving forests and their expansion for climate protection is expressly recognized, and mechanisms such as REDD-plus are to be introduced to protect them. For these measures - including the protection of forests - and for adaptation to the consequences of climate change in poor countries, US $ 30 billion will be available in the period from 2010 to 2012; from 2020 it should be US $ 100 billion per year. The money is to be largely distributed through a newly founded “Copenhagen Green Climate Fund ”. The implementation of this agreement is to be reviewed in 2015; then it should also be examined whether the long-term goal of limiting global warming must be lowered to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Balance sheet

The total cost of the conference is estimated at just under 150 million euros. The CO 2 emissions during and through the conference with 16,500 participants, at around 40,000 t CO 2 equivalent, corresponded to what the British city of Middlesbrough released into the atmosphere during the duration of the conference. Compared to the conference in Bali with around 100,000 tons, the ecological footprint could be significantly reduced.

Hermann Scheer, as president of the Eurosolar interest group and winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize, does not consider the failure of the climate summit to be surprising. The model of the Renewable Energy Sources Act , which he propagates and is oriented towards the nation state, is much more promising than global solutions in the context of emissions trading .

On the first trading day of the European Climate Exchange after the conference, the prices for emission certificates fell by almost 7% to their lowest level since March 2009. The prices for the carbon credits issued as part of the Clean Development Mechanism also fell by around 7%.

Mass arrests

The climate summit was accompanied by demonstrations and “preventive” mass arrests. Shortly before the summit, the Danish government had urgently passed a package of special laws that the government itself called “Lømmelpakke” (“Lümmelpaket”). Among other things, it allows preventive detention of up to 12 hours in the event of suspicion of intentions that may “endanger order and security”. As a result of this special legislation, more than 2,000 people were temporarily deprived of their liberty during the summit without being charged with any criminal offense. There are sound recordings of the chief of police operations with the request to the officers: Not only to club the demonstrators, but also the journalists who were there “until the baton glows red”.

See also

Web links

Commons : 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. UNFCCC: The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7-19 December 2009
  2. Joachim Krause: After Copenhagen: What multilateralism does a successful climate policy require? In: Internationale Politik, March / April 2010 edition
  3. ^ For example, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung of December 19, 2009.
  4. UNFCCC: Copenhagen Accord (PDF; 187 kB)
  5. ^ IISD Reporting Services - Future Meetings
  6. Oliver Geden: The modification of the 2-degree goal. Climate policy targets in the field of tension between scientific advice, political preferences and rising emissions. (PDF; 454 kB) Retrieved on February 16, 2013 .
  7. Progress Made in Negotiations for Ambitious and Effective Copenhagen Deal at Bonn UNFCCC Meeting. (PDF; 48 kB) In: Press Release. UNFCCC / CCNUCC, June 12, 2009, accessed July 16, 2010 .
  8. Bangkok Climate Change Talks - 2009 . United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  9. Negotiating text ( English (others available) , PDF; 403 kB) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  10. Negotiating text ( English (others available) , PDF; 2.1 MB) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  11. Der Spiegel 51/2009: The green revolutionary
  12. Spiegel online: Obama has a free hand with climate protection, December 8, 2009
  13. ^ The Economist, December 5, 2009: Cap and tirade
  14. http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/COP%2015_meet.pdf Declaration by the Indian Environment Minister on the outcome of Copenhagen, pdf (in English)
  15. China leads accusation that rich nations are trying to sabotage climate treaty Angry statement from 131 countries at climate talks in Bangkok claims rich nations are rejecting historical responsibilities Guardian October 5, 2009
  16. “24 hours to pull the world back from climate chaos”. Greenpeace press release, December 17, 2009 ( Memento from December 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ^ Survival International.
  18. Climate Justice Action: Overview demonstrations ( Memento from November 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  19. Demand for more democracy on a global level ( Memento from January 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  20. Head of delegation request renewal of the process  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , dated December 22, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / de.unpacampaign.org  
  21. Climate Consortium - COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009 . En.cop15.dk. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
  22. Chancellor wants to take part in climate conference in Copenhagen , Welt Online , from November 11, 2009.
  23. ^ Riley E. Dunlap, Aaron M. McCright: Organized Climate Change Denial , in: John S. Dryzek, Richard B. Norgaard, David Schlosberg (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society . Oxford University Press 2011, pp. 144-160, esp. 144, 152f.
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  26. ^ I European Conference for the promotion of Local actions to combat Climate Change - Submitted events - EEA . Eea.europa.eu. Accessed on December 9, 2009  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.eea.europa.eu
  27. European Conference for the Promotion of Local Actions to Combat Climate Change, 23-25 ​​/ 9/09 (Huelva, Spanje) | vleva . Vleva.eu. Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
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  33. Guy Verhofstadt: “Europe is no longer listened to”. In: Der Tagesspiegel, December 30, 2009, p. 6
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  37. Scan of the letter ( Memento from February 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  38. Politiet tog over 1,900 personer under klimatopmødet ( Memento of December 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on politiken.dk, accessed December 23, 2009
  39. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34618513
  40. spiegel.de December 13, 2015: Historic World Climate Agreement: Ten reasons for the miracle of Paris
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  42. ^ Anger at delegate's Holocaust jibe against climate deal - as his country shares £ 62bn bonanza, Mail Online, 19 December 2009
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  44. Copenhagen summit carbon footprint biggest ever by Sunanda Creagh, Reuters COPENHAGEN, December 14, 2009
  45. How much CO2 will be emitted during the Copenhagen conference? Should world leaders be expected to negotiate a climate change deal via video conference? Or is flying justifiable? December 4, 2009: Leo Hickman, The Guardian
  46. The climate summit needs a different agenda " ( Memento from February 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Hermann Scheer in an interview with Manager Magazin, December 8, 2009
  47. Carbon Prices Tumble After 'Modest' Climate Deal. Bloomberg.com, December 21, 2009.
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