Final Thoughts from the Copenhagen Summit.... the glass is half full - not half empty

So here’s the crunch as the negotiations came down to the wire...The last 2 days reminded me of a four ring circus......

In the end the “Deal” that emerged at the 11^th hour of the 11^th day was said by many – perhaps most commentators to be hardly a deal at all. I disagree – given what is at stake as well as the real time frame for action it is what Mr Ban called “an essential beginning" 

Did it go far enough, fast enough? Of course not – and President Obama in his final press briefing admitted as much..

But it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and say they should have done more when you don’t have the balancing responsibilities that every delegation had to do.

And finally the program we launched during the Summit – Live the Deal – is even more relevant given the fact that countries will now register their commitments and aspirations to emission reduction by 2020. There is every capacity for our industry – hotels, airlines and travel services – to at least match those levels.

A few days in Copenhagen and you begin to understand how complex this process is...how many special interests are at play.... and how good the UNFCCC is keeping it all together so the real painstaking negotiation work gets done and it peaks when the world leaders start to appear this week. The UN family has been united behind the process and the unwavering vision of the Secretary General.

The biggest challenge in restrospect is that a year of media hype (including by the UN itself) has now raised "public" expectations to levels that make the chance of bridging negotiating positions increasingly difficult. Despite what is at stake.

Global Green New Deal - Policy Brief

In early 2009 when the world was facing an unprecedented financial meltdown, UNEP, the UN Environment Programme, spearheded a global research effort to assess prospects for a new global economic framework that mainstreamed sustainability and development along with renewed growth, energy efficiency and job creation. This became the basis for the so called  "green new deal", subsequently termed the Green Economy which has become a key plank of UN system and G20 strategy..

Available for download:

Available for download:

Summary of - UNWTO/UNEP/WMO Climate & Tourism Conference

Climate change is a reality: the science and the shifts in extreme weather patterns present a strong case to try to stabilise global warming and the international community has been working for many years to do that in the UN climate negotiations.  Governments have been "committing" to "Seal the Deal" in Copenhagen this month - to collectively set in motion a 30 year response strategy  with details put in place over the 2 years until the current Kyoto Agreement expires.

The “Copenhagen Deal” will hopefully let all economies grow - particularly the developing and emerging ones and accelerate formally the action to reduce carbon outputs and increase cleaner energy use; that’s what the G20 & the UN call the Green Economy.

"Live the Deal”

New Travel & Tourism Climate Initiative launched in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen/UAE/Madrid 14th December: "Live the Deal", an innovative, global campaign to help travel companies & destinations respond to Climate Change, reduce their carbon footprint and move to the Green Economy, was launched today during the Copenhagen Climate Summit.

UNFCCC Press Release Summary

greenearth take The glass is half full not half empty. International consensus on the toughest global challenge of all time is a long hard battle. Copenhagen brought the largest polluters and the most needy states to the next level. Tourism was not directly affected. The Accord gives a basis for our sector to match government commitments over the next four decades with a serious start now

UN SG Ban Ki-moon “an essential beginning; Climate Change is the permanent leadership challenge of our time & world leaders must remain engaged.”

UNFCCC DG Yvo DeBoer “ambitions must be raised significantly: the challenge is now to turn what we have agreed politically in Copenhagen into something real, measurable & verifiable”.

I promised Valere my friend at Vision on Sustainable Tourism to try a Blog from the Copenhagen Summit. Short, sweet and please not too bureaucratic, he said (being familiar with my usual writing!!!).

I was wearing other hats in addition to cub reporter namely for UNWTO and greenearth.travel a new Think Tank to help take Tourism into the Green Economy.

In the end there were 3 blogs and they are published here.  In retrospect (albeit of little more than a week) I stick with the analysis.

Maybe I am the only mildy optimistic industry analyst - but as Chuchill said "You might as well be an optimist - there's no point in being anything else.

 

A Global Climate Initiative For Travel & Tourism