COP20—Lima Local weather Convention — World Points

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January 22, 2025

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by Anup Shah
This web page Created Saturday, January 24, 2015

This web page: https://www.globalissues.org/article/805/cop20-lima-climate-conference.
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On this web page:

Introduction
Assembly final result
Mainstream media reporting
In context: widespread however differentiated tasks
Extra data
Information tales from IPS

Introduction

December 1 – 14, 2014, Lima, Peru was the venue for the twentieth annual United Nations Local weather Change Convention, also called the twentieth Convention of the Events — or COP 20.

The aim of this convention was to create a common settlement on local weather change motion and start the method of financing mitigation.

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Assembly final result

The assembly ended with all nations agreeing to chop again greenhouse gasoline emissions. Often called the Lima Accord, this treaty is just not legally binding and international locations shouldn’t have to specify how a lot they may reduce, as an alternative agreeing to report their plans again by March 2015.

Whereas for a lot of it appeared like a profitable final result, others have been upset, equivalent to poor international locations struggling to rebuild from present impacts of local weather change who have been alarmed on the disappearance of loss and injury commitments from the ultimate textual content which has been a part of the dialogue for years.

The worldwide local weather motion, 350.org, summarized the disappointments and hopeful elements of the assembly final result, noting

The brand new settlement doesn’t replicate the urgency of the local weather disaster
Some good agreements – however no measures to make sure implementation
Least developed and weak nations disregarded within the chilly
Divestment (from fossil gasoline reliance) is extra essential than ever
World momentum for actual options is stronger than ever and can carry on going.

In attempting to place a optimistic spin on the general disappointment they felt, they concluded, In the long run, a world local weather treaty is only one software to fight local weather change. Actual change goes to proceed to return from the grassroots. The UN Local weather Talks proceed to be a spot the place the world’s international locations comes collectively to debate this disaster and individuals are placing in monumental efforts to ensure Paris [the next global meeting] received’t be like Copenhagen which was filled with disappointments regardless of large guarantees.

Samantha Smith, Chief of WWF’s World Local weather and Vitality Initiative, was fairly scathing of the assembly final result saying that political expediency received over scientific urgency. She additionally famous that Developed nation governments couldn’t even handle to elucidate how they may ship the long-promised US$100 billion per 12 months in local weather finance by 2020. In a transfer that seemingly dismissed the plight of probably the most weak international locations, they fully eliminated any significant language about ‘loss and injury’.

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Mainstream media reporting

As with virtually each earlier assembly (with occasional exceptions), mainstream media reporting was very poor given the significance of this world difficulty. The place the assembly was reported it was typically in direction of the tip, and simply sound chunk sort summaries saying all international locations agreed to emission cuts and that this was a significant enchancment.

Whereas the treaty continued to say it honors the long-standing widespread however differentiated tasks the mainstream media reporting (as in most years) has sometimes failed to offer rationalization and context of this precept that has been an essential a part of these talks for over 2 a long time; that poor and growing international locations mustn’t bear the identical tasks because the developed ones (as a result of they don’t seem to be the reason for the anthropogenic carbon emissions over the earlier a long time which have led to this, which is detailed rather more on this website’s web page on local weather justice).

A touch in direction of this precept could have been offered as a viewpoint of China or India, given the impression they’re being obstacles, slightly then explaining this precept in additional context.

That was simply one of many points skirted over or omitted from widespread reporting. Others included points on financing, expertise assist for poorer nations, and so forth. Behind the scenes, for many years, wealthy international locations have stalled on these items or actively prevented attempting to share expertise and so forth, which is barely reported.

Yearly, this criticism is made from mainstream reporting, so with out following these negotiations every year, it may be straightforward to return away with the impression that this assembly had a optimistic final result.

However as this dialogue hosted by Democracy Now! reveals, there have been a variety of essential problems with competition:

Emissions-Slicing Deal Reached at COP 20 Lima, However Will It Assist Stop Catastrophic Local weather Change?, Democracy Now!, December 15, 2014.

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In context: widespread however differentiated tasks

A few years in the past all nations agreed that local weather change was largely the results of actions from at the moment’s industrialized nations, as carbon dioxide — the principle greenhouse gasoline — stays within the ambiance for many years. But, the poorest would find yourself struggling probably the most for an issue they largely didn’t trigger. The approaches to mitigation (emissions discount) would subsequently be completely different for these teams of nations — the widespread however differentiated tasks precept.

It’s on this context that the dialogue for loss and injury has come about. And it’s one thing that wealthy international locations are eager to eliminate .

The years of resistance on this difficulty (and lots of others) means every time it’s mentioned once more the reactions appear to get much more hostile. Mixed with the dearth of detailed context within the mainstream media protection of this side, it then turns into simpler every time to see culprits as China and India given their monumental greenhouse emissions lately, in comparison with the far better quantity by the industrialized nations over the longer interval. See this website’s part on local weather justice for extra detailed background.

And as this website has stated for years on the local weather justice web page, the wealthy nations are delaying any significant motion till it’s finally — and disproportionately — paid for the by the growing nations. New Delhi primarily based Nitin Sethi, affiliate editor at Enterprise Commonplace, interviewed within the earlier talked about video says the identical factor, however extra frankly:

There isn’t a motion that’s going to occur between now and 2020. All of that was to be finished by the developed international locations. They [rich nations] principally have simply stated at Lima that we’re not going to do any greater than what we’re doing thus far, and the burden can shift onto the post-2020 period, the place different growing international locations must share it. So, to me, it signifies actually negotiation in unhealthy religion.

Nitin Sethi, Emissions-Slicing Deal Reached at COP 20 Lima, However Will It Assist Stop Catastrophic Local weather Change?, Democracy Now!, December 15, 2014

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