COP-15

The discussions at the Bangkok conference during the first two weeks of October in 2009 were highly anticipated and hopeful for agreements and progress before the Copenhagen Climate Conference. Headway must be made before the Copenhagen Climate Conference during the Bangkok and Barcelona conferences, if there is to be a strong global deal agreed upon, or at least drafted at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.

The rich and powerful leaders must make drastic cuts in emissions and allow for a meeting point for developing nations who cannot afford to make as drastic cuts. The developing countries such as India would not agree to a strong cut of emissions for their country since they did not play a major role in the amount of damage done to the environment in the 1900s. The rich, developed and industrialized countries such as the US, UK and other EU countries had major hands in the emissions emitted and still do emit a lot. This fact must be taken into account in the global deal drafts and must require leaders in the developed countries to look at the ways to convince developing nations into cutting their emissions. This can only be done through developed nations making large commitments.

The leaders in climate change commitments are in the European Union. The European Union held press briefings through the conference to update the media on their progress. On October 5, 2009, it was disappointingly reported that discussions were slowly moving along and that key political issues needed to be focused on more closely. Moderate progress was being made in the less politically difficult area of adaptation; however, the difficult topic of mitigation in developed countries still needs a lot of attention and work.

On October 9, 2009, the European Union held another press briefing where the panel announced that they would make goals and sign onto deals if there is a sound fair deal outlined where other leading countries have comparable deals. The United States is one of the leading produces of emissions and therefore they are a key group in the discussions and the weight of the deal that comes from the discussions. After the Kyoto Protocol was not ratified in the United States it set global accountability back. If the leading countries such as the United States do not pass the deal made in Copenhagen it will send a message to the rest of the world that climate change is not of importance.

Copenhagen will hopefully provide a strong and realistic global deal that all countries can sign on to. The European Union has said that they will commit to a fair global deal and they are key in leading other rich and high emitters in the developed countries during the weeks leading up to Copenhagen and during the Climate Conference. A strong global deal that creates change in behavior can only work if it is fair and realistic. This can only be created through leaders taking risks and creating partnerships and coalitions that involve both mitigation and adaption initiatives. There is a lot of work still to be done before Copenhagen and hopefully Barcelona will provide more substantive discussion on the key issues and mitigation.