Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

COP15 Branded a Disaster by Green Groups

The climate conference at Copenhagen has been branded a distaster after leaders failed to put in place legally binding carbon reduction targets.

Despite an accord to limit global temperature rises to 2 degrees, several countries refused to sign up to legally binding carbon reduction targets. The result is that there will not be a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Friends of the Earth said the conference, which ended on Friday had been an “abject failure”, pointing out that the effects of global warming would be felt most by the poor. The blame for the failure has been cast in many directions- in particular towards the US and China, the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.

The agreement to the targets stalled when head of China’s climate delegation Xie Zhenhua, refused to agree a process allowing inspectors into China to verify that the country is meeting its carbon reduction committments. This process was a condition insisted upon by US President Obama and the lack of agreement to it has been seen by many as China asserting its power in the new world in a way other countries will not be happy about.

UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said that the outcome of the conference was “disappointing” but claimed that important progress was made in the challenge to deal with global warming.