United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon did galvanize world leaders and CEOs towards ‘sealing the deal’ on a climate change treaty in Copenhagen at a summit in New York this week. But many specific and important details are still to be agreed even though there are now just 15 negotiating days left before COP 15 in December.
The summit produced several notable successes. The parallel Leadership Forum delivered almost 700 senior executives and investors in support of a comprehensive agreement in Copenhagen, countering claims that business fears the impact of a potential treaty.
However, these leaders uniformly told the UN and politicians present that they need the agreement to be global and consistent in terms of international regulation and execution, if it is to be economically workable.
Meanwhile, China delivered an international commitment to reduce per capita greenhouse gas emissions, Japan raised its target and the US backed the need for an open technology transfer and research funding regime, although President Barack Obama offered no specifics.
Both Ban and Danish Prime Minister (and COP15 host) Lars Løkke Rasmussen highlighted those last two areas as fields where particular advances and more formal structures will be needed if a deal is to be secured.
However, Ban did not see the specific as a priority for this event. His more general concern had been a slow down in the negotiations. Rather he wanted – and felt he got – some renewed vigour.
“Today marked the moment when the political momentum shifted,” he said. “Something that has been missing for the past few months has returned.”
He was also satisfied that leaders now recognize the need for a single global deal, rather than a treaty that leads only to a patchwork of national or regional measures.
A fuller analysis of events in New York will appear in the next print edition of E&T.
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