Sunday, December 12, 2010

A Few Lessons of Cancun

And I'm sure others will have plenty more, either trying to sell it as a success or all the faults of actually not moving forward as the growing problems are pushed down the road.

Climate: 5 Lessons from the U.N. CancĂșn Climate Summit


December 11, 2010 - After the disappointment of Copenhagen and a year when the viability of the UNFCC was repeatedly called into question, the world has its first new legal agreement on climate change in years. The deal is modest—there are no new binding pledges to cut carbon emissions, no hard figures in climate aid and some of the most difficult decisions, like the fate of Kyoto Protocol, have been punted to next year. But for the first time the world has a legal instrument that commits both developed and developing nations—including major emerging economies like China—to take climate action that will be transparent and measurable on the international stage. “Obviously this package is not going to solve climate change itself,” said an exhausted Todd Stern, the U.S. climate envoy, at a 5:30 AM press conference on Saturday. “But it is an important step forward.”

That it is, though it leaves much more to do. But the Cancun Agreements, as they're called, go beyond the politics of climate change. Here are five lessons from Cancun that should be kept in mind as we all head home: {continued}

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