Like all unwieldy compromises, the outcome of the United Nations summit on climate change has left no one completely happy with international efforts to limit global warming.
More worrying, it will do little to ensure that countries start reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases until 2020, by some estimates. The summit, held in Durban, South Africa, has not delivered a comprehensive legally binding agreement to reduce the human impact on climate change.
Instead, it has settled for simply further detailing the targets and mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gases in an agreement that is supposed to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the last international accord aimed at tackling global warming. Rather than action, world leaders and delegates have only committed themselves to further rounds of talks and negotiations — while the world burns.
The major obstacle remains that neither China nor the United States, the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses, are seemingly prepared to commit themselves to a legally binding agreement. China is on a path of rapid development to lift its people out of poverty and wants emerging economies to be able to opt out of provisions that limit their advancement. The United States is opposed to this as it will give developing countries a competitive economic advantage. The rest of the international community must put pressure on these two countries to break a deadlock that has hampered climate change talks for decades.
The summit has achieved progress on raising funds for green technology and transferring it to developing countries. This is important, but far from enough.
It is clear that governments have not been able to put aside their perceived national interests and cooperate for the good of the global environment. Until they are able to do so, individuals in every country will have to take personal responsibility for living in a way that respects and helps to protect the environment.
