Historic opportunity to avert climate chaos squandered in Copenhagen
Working through the night, negotiators struggled to understand
the status of the so called 'Copenhagen Accord' as the Copenhagen
Climate Summit came to an inglorious, incoherent and fiercely
disputed close.
"We have had a year of crises, but today the biggest one facing
humanity is a leadership crisis. The so-called Copenhagen Accord is
a failure of political will - it fails the basic test for an
acceptable outcome - the agreement is not fair, it is not
ambitious, and it is not binding" warned Greenpeace Canada Climate
and Energy Coordinator, Dave Martin from Copenhagen. "This failure
could condemn millions to death as the impacts of runaway climate
change escalate in coming years."
The Copenhagen Accord is being hailed by some as a step forward.
It is not. It has not even been formally adopted by the United
Nations Conference of the Parties (COP). It does not contain
strong measures for emission reductions in developed countries. It
is a major concession to climate polluting industries, especially
in the fossil fuel sector which lobbied hard to undermine a deal
and now has a license to continue to pollute.
In the lead-up to Copenhagen, Greenpeace put the climate crimes
of the Alberta tar sands on the agenda at the climate conference
through a series of civil disobedience actions in September and
October against tar sands operations in Alberta. Cabinet documents
leaked during Copenhagen showed that the Harper government wants to
weaken its already weak reduction targets to allow continued,
unchecked expansion of the tar sands and greenhouse gas
emissions.
"Canadians want action on climate change. They don't want the
tar sands corporations to dictate Canada's environment and foreign
policy."
Canada received 10 Fossil-of-the-Day awards from Climate Action
Network at the Copenhagen conference. The tongue-in-cheek awards
are given to countries that block progress in some way at the
negotiations. The large number of fossils resulted in the Canada
receiving the 'colossal fossil' award as worst country at the
conference.
"Climate science says we have only a few years left to halt the
rise in emissions before runaway climate change will result in
catastrophic impacts. We cannot change that science, so instead we
will have to change the politics, and we may have to change the
politicians."
Read Dave Martin's comments on the agreement
Read the Copenhagen Accord
Take Action:
Email or call Prime Minister Harper:
Prime Minister Harper: Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
(613) 992-4211 Ottawa; (403) 253-7990 Calgary constituency
office
Suggested E-mail text:
Mr. Harper: You and other world leaders from developed countries
failed in Copenhagen. You failed to listen to Canadians who wanted
you to support a fair and binding agreement at the United Nations
climate conference. You all failed people in developing countries
who are already suffering from climate change. Hundreds of
thousands are dying every year from the effects of climate
change.
It was embarrassing to watch my government on the world stage
undermine progress at Copenhagen. In the coming months, you must do
far more to be part of the solution to global warming. You must
agree to legally binding, science-based reduction targets for
Canada of at least 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. You must
agree to significant funding to help the developing world adapt to
and mitigate climate change. You must agree to measures that will
halt global deforestation and promote a clean energy future.
You still have an opportunity to show leadership on climate
change.
Failure to fight climate change is not an option.
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