By Clare Groves | 16 December 2011
It's impossible to know exactly what will emerge from the two weeks of international climate change negotiations held every December. But one safe bet is that governments will try to put off big decisions to avoid agreeing to something potentially unpopular at home. And this year was no exception.
Although many negotiators left Durban in South Africa, the venue for this year's talks, claiming success, the truth is that they simply agreed to keep talking. And in a world in which global emissions of greenhouse gases are rising steadily and scientists are warning that without urgent action we are all heading for dangerous climate change, talk is not enough.
Now the dust has settled, however, it is possible to see some glimmers of hope. Over 190 countries that were represented in Durban have agreed to work towards a new international agreement on tackling climate change. For the first time this agreement will, in theory, cover every country. That includes the world's two biggest carbon emitters - China and the United States.
And the Green Climate Fund has been given staff and an office - although still very little cash as yet.
UK played best hand possible
The UK and the European Union (EU), alongside allies from the least developed and most vulnerable countries, pushed hard to maintain the Kyoto Protocol, the world's only existing law to limit countries' emissions of the gases which cause climate change. This would have meant binding commitments by all big emitters by 2015.
But in the end they were overpowered by the self interests of big, wealthy emitters, including the USA, Russia, Canada and Japan, who refused to take binding commitments until 2020. This is simply too late.
Mohamed Adow, Christian Aid's expert on the climate talks, was part of our team in Durban trying to influence the talks for the better. But he was desperately disappointed.
'This Durban outcome is a political compromise which saves the climate talks but endangers people living in poverty,' he said. 'Action against climate change in 2020 will come a decade too late for poor people on the frontline - they need it now.’
Read the full press release here
Your actions have counted
It is largely thanks to vigorous campaigning from supporters like you that the UK and EU felt such strong pressure to push for ambitious targets at the climate talks. Despite this disappointing outcome, Christian Aid will keep up the pressure on governments for urgent action on climate change.
Before leaving for Durban, Stop Climate Chaos campaigners met with Chris Huhne and Greg Barker, Ministers at the Department Energy and Climate Change, to call on them to push for real progress on the Kyoto Protocol and the Green Climate Fund. At this meeting, Greg Barker welcomed the campaigning work of NGOs such as Christian Aid stressing our crucial importance in ensuring these issues are heard by government.
Your calls for climate justice were heard at the negotiation table. If Chris Huhne had not stood beside the European Commissioner Connie Hedegaard pushing hard for a road map to a globally binding deal, then there would have been a far worse outcome for the world’s poor.
Thank you.
