Copenhagen, Dec 19, 2009

Don’t break out the campaign just yet. Reports of a climate deal are confusing if not outright misleading. For example, the New York Times story with the headline “Climate Deal Announced, but Falls Short of Expectations” is only partially true – this proposal does fall short of expectations. But the implication of the NYT headline isn’t consistent with the second paragraph which says “”The agreement still needs to be approved by the 193 nations gathered here”. Approximately 25 nations approved this ‘deal’, actually a proposal that must be presented to the 193 countries for approval. The process here is one of consensus, meaning that if even one country does not agree to the terms, there effectively will be no agreement. Whether the countries that put forth this proposal would still honor it in that case remains to be seen.

This proposal has stripped out many key contentious details, such as country by country emissions reductions targets in 2020 and 2050. These would be filled in early next year, so much haggling remains.

Report by James George