Copenhagen Accord or Discord
The UN climate summit in Copenhagen December 2009 has been variously described as a “failure”, a “setback”, or “utter chaos.” Since the climate conference in Bali in 2007, the hopes of the world had been pinned on Copenhagen to yield a new global agreement on climate change that would dramatically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions around the world, particularly in developed countries, and provide urgently needed funding to poor countries already deal-ing with the impacts of climate change.
What do the outcomes from Copenhagen mean for people calling for climate justice for the poor and mar-ginalized in the global South? Where do we go next after Copenhagen? This paper examines the implications of the new Copenhagen Accord and explores some possible future directions for our work.
