Copenhagen Climate Deal Backed by 110 Countries

By webadmin on 11:25 pm Mar 31, 2010
Category Archive

Oslo. More than 110 nations, including top greenhouse gas emitters led by China and the United States, signed up to the nonbinding Copenhagen Accord for combating climate change, according to a first formal UN list released on Wednesday.

The release of the list helps end weeks of uncertainty about support for the deal, agreed at an acrimonious summit in the Danish capital in December. The list was compiled by the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat.

The accord, falling short of a binding treaty sought by many nations, sets a goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, but it does not spell out what each nation has to do.

It also promises almost $10 billion a year in aid for poor nations from 2010-12, rising to at least $100 billion from 2020 to help them slow emissions growth and cope with impacts such as floods, droughts and rising sea levels.

Apart from China and the United States, the list includes top emitters such as the European Union, Russia, India and Japan. Their names were listed at the top of the three-page text, following up an agreement in Copenhagen.

The accord was merely “noted” by the 194-nation summit after objections by a handful of developing nations including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Sudan.

The UN then asked all countries to say whether they wanted to be listed. Many big emerging economies were initially reluctant to sign up after the deal failed to gain universal support, even though the original text was worked out by US President Barack Obama with leaders of nations including China, India, Brazil and South Africa.

They want the 1992 UN Climate Convention to guide UN negotiations on a new treaty, reckoning it more clearly spells out that rich nations have to take the lead.

Nations not on the list include many OPEC members such as Saudi Arabia, which fear a loss of oil revenues if the world shifts to renewable energies, and some island states that fear rising sea levels.