pratul
14-01-2010, 12:27 PM
Key Points
#The Copenhagen climate conference COP15 resulted in a document called the Copenhagen Accord. It was hammered out by a small group of countries - including the world's two biggest greenhouse gas polluters, China and the US.
Basics
According to the last IPCC report, it is more than 90% probable that humankind is largely responsible for modern-day climate change.
The principal cause is burning fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas.
This produces carbon dioxide (CO2), which - added to the CO2 present naturally in the Earth's atmosphere - acts as a kind of blanket, trapping more of the Sun's energy and warming the Earth's surface.
Deforestation and processes that release other greenhouse gases such as methane also contribute.
Although the initial impact is a rise in average temperatures around the world - "global warming" - this also produces changes in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, changes to the difference in temperatures between night and day, and so on.
1.For the first time it, unites the US, China and other major developing countries in an effort to curb global greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol did not achieve this.The accord also says developed countries will aim to mobilise $100bn per year by 2020, to address the needs of developing countries.
2.The summit did not result in a legally binding deal or any commitment to reach one in future.There is also no global target for emission reduction by 2050 and the accord seems vague.
3. A commitment "to reduce global emissions so as to hold the increase in global temperature below 2C" and to achieve "the peaking of global and national emissions as soon as possible"
4. Developed countries must make commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and developing countries must report their plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions to the UN by 31 January 2010
5. New and additional resources "approaching $30bn" will be channelled to poorer nations over the period 2010-12, with an annual sum of $100bn envisaged by 2020
6. A Copenhagen Green Climate Fund will be established under the UN convention on climate change, to direct some of this money to climate-related projects in developing countries
7 Projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries will be subject to international monitoring if they are internationally funded
8. Programmes to provide developing countries with financial incentives to preserve forests - REDD and REDD-plus - will be established immediately
9. Implementation of the accord will be reviewed in 2015 and an assessment will be made of whether the goal of keeping global temperature rise within 2C needs to be strengthened to 1.5C.
10.The global average temperature has already risen by about 0.7C since pre-industrial times.In some parts of the world this is already having impacts and a Copenhagen deal could not stop those impacts, although it could provide funding to help deal with some of the consequences.
#The Copenhagen climate conference COP15 resulted in a document called the Copenhagen Accord. It was hammered out by a small group of countries - including the world's two biggest greenhouse gas polluters, China and the US.
Basics
According to the last IPCC report, it is more than 90% probable that humankind is largely responsible for modern-day climate change.
The principal cause is burning fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas.
This produces carbon dioxide (CO2), which - added to the CO2 present naturally in the Earth's atmosphere - acts as a kind of blanket, trapping more of the Sun's energy and warming the Earth's surface.
Deforestation and processes that release other greenhouse gases such as methane also contribute.
Although the initial impact is a rise in average temperatures around the world - "global warming" - this also produces changes in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, changes to the difference in temperatures between night and day, and so on.
1.For the first time it, unites the US, China and other major developing countries in an effort to curb global greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol did not achieve this.The accord also says developed countries will aim to mobilise $100bn per year by 2020, to address the needs of developing countries.
2.The summit did not result in a legally binding deal or any commitment to reach one in future.There is also no global target for emission reduction by 2050 and the accord seems vague.
3. A commitment "to reduce global emissions so as to hold the increase in global temperature below 2C" and to achieve "the peaking of global and national emissions as soon as possible"
4. Developed countries must make commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and developing countries must report their plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions to the UN by 31 January 2010
5. New and additional resources "approaching $30bn" will be channelled to poorer nations over the period 2010-12, with an annual sum of $100bn envisaged by 2020
6. A Copenhagen Green Climate Fund will be established under the UN convention on climate change, to direct some of this money to climate-related projects in developing countries
7 Projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries will be subject to international monitoring if they are internationally funded
8. Programmes to provide developing countries with financial incentives to preserve forests - REDD and REDD-plus - will be established immediately
9. Implementation of the accord will be reviewed in 2015 and an assessment will be made of whether the goal of keeping global temperature rise within 2C needs to be strengthened to 1.5C.
10.The global average temperature has already risen by about 0.7C since pre-industrial times.In some parts of the world this is already having impacts and a Copenhagen deal could not stop those impacts, although it could provide funding to help deal with some of the consequences.