Mixed reactions to outcome of Doha Climate talks
Tue 11 December 2012
View all news
The EU welcomed the outcome of the Doha climate conference saying it "lays the basis for more ambitious international action against climate change in the short term, paves the way for a new global climate agreement to be finalised in 2015 and enables a second period of the Kyoto Protocol to start on 1 January 2013". Reactions otherwise were mixed; there was a general view that there had been progress in some, but not all, key areas but that overall progress was too slow.
"This is not perfect, but it is genuine progress," said Ed Davey, the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary. "It's a bigger step forward than people have given us credit for. We wanted to pave the way for the future discussions on a new global treaty and we've done that."
Countries are working towards a new global agreement on climate change that would, unlike the Kyoto protocol, require cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from both developed and developing countries, to be signed in 2015 and come into force from 2020.
At Doha, they cleared away some of the obstacles to the proposed new treaty, including starting on a new period of the Kyoto protocol that will last until 2020, reorganising the negotiations into a single unified set of talks, and setting out a work programme of negotiations up to 2015. This was broadly achieved.
Connie Hedegaard, the EU Climate Commissioner, said: "In Doha, we have crossed the bridge from the old climate regime to the new system. We are now our way to the 2015 global deal. It was not an easy and comfortable ride. It was not a very fast ride either. But we have managed to cross the bridge. Very intense negotiations lie ahead of us. What we need now is more ambition and more speed."
Reactions from environmental organisations were less positive. WWF criticised a small number of Western countries for reneging on their commitments, claiming that negotiators in Doha had "failed to deliver even the minimum expectations for the UN climate negotiations."
WWF's global climate and energy initiative leader Samantha Smith said: "Some developed countries have made a mockery of the negotiations by backing away from their past commitments and refusing to take on new ones.
"And to make matters worse, it was only a handful of countries - such as Poland, Russia, Canada, the US and Japan - who held the negotiations to ransom.
Friends of the Earth executive director Andy Atkins said: "Rarely has so little been achieved by so many powerful people gathered together in one place - the failure to agree any meaningful international action to slash emissions leaves the world teetering on the edge of catastrophic climate change.
"Wealthy nations must shoulder the blame - they've put their short-term interests ahead of the well-being of billions of people around the globe."
For more information, please follow the associated links.
Related Links
< Back to news list