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How big a deal is Copenhagen?
The United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Denmark in December of this year (abbreviated to COP15) is viewed by many as a landmark in human history, whatever the outcomes. Future historians will point to it as the moment when global political leaders either had the courage to take drastic action to protect future generations’ wellbeing or failed to move beyond their own national self-interest and continued business as usual – with potentially catastrophic results.
Environmental and climate change activists differ in their opinions on how make or break the event is for the planet as a whole, depending largely on the degree of significance they attach to government policy as opposed to what actually gets done at the grass roots level or how the world economy performs in coming years. The teachers on our After Copenhagen course next March show this diversity.
Vandana Shiva is attending the parallel “civil society” conference that will take place in Copenhagen at the same time as the governments are negotiating. She points out that “the Copenhagen conference is important but it is not the only place where solutions can be found – a lot can and must be done by countries and by individuals and communities. My biggest hope is that Civil Society will come together there and offer a new vision for the future that inspires people to make a difference locally.”
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“My worst fears about these climate negotiations are that that they will perpetuate the ‘Polluter gets paid’ pseudo solutions and will ignore the positive actions like organic farming and other local food and energy projects that will really make a difference.”
Richard Heinberg is not attending the Copenhagen event. He believes that underlying economic factors will be more significant than any inter-governmental agreements that may be reached there:
“I do not hold great hopes for the Copenhagen meeting. Economic collapse is doing more to reduce CO2 emissions than any proactive agreement has accomplished to date, and I expect that will continue to be the case. It is essential that nations begin thinking about how to manage the inevitable, ongoing shrinkage of their economies in the post-growth era that we have entered, in such a way as to avert resource wars and reduce vulnerability to declines in resource availability. Such policies would also help reduce GHG emissions.”
Malini Mehra sees the role of governments as being more critical than Richard and Vandana: “I don’t think we can over-estimate the importance of COP15. This isn’t just another conference – this is THE moment when as a global community we have to commit to a radical plan to address climate change. Our politicians might waffle but scientists are telling us that time is running out and the planet won’t keep giving us extensions. Is it likely that we’ll get our act together by December? I don’t know – but we have to believe in the impossible and work like the blazes to achieve it. My biggest fear is that the talks collapse – but we can’t prepare for failure, we have to create a shocking and daring new global consensus for action. As citizens, that’s our task.”
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Clare Short points to the fact that this is an opportunity to redress some of the global economic imbalances which have made international cooperation so problematic. “Copenhagen is key to reaching a worldwide agreement to prevent disastrous climate change. Agreement will only be reached if the major polluters – who are the OECD countries – commit to a big reduction in their emissions and provide funds to transfer new energy technologies to developing countries. If this is achieved, it will be a major step towards a more equitable world. My biggest hope is a sincere and radical agreement to cut carbon dioxide emissions and invest in new energy systems in developing countries. My fear is that there will be a fudged agreement that is insufficiently radical.”
To read more about our course After Copenhagen: Opportunities and challenges, March 2010
Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.