Hopes for Copenhagen - A Norton Rose Group survey

Introduction

Over the past two years, the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference that will take place in Copenhagen from 7 to 18 December, (COP15), has been hailed as one of the most significant global events for a generation. With the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol set to expire in 2012, senior politicians from around the world are to converge on Denmark with the goal of reaching an agreement on how best to address climate change. In anticipation of this, we decided to undertake a survey of the views of individuals in business involved with the environmental, sustainability and climate change issues for their organisations.

As is to be expected from such an event on such a high-profile issue, COP15 is set to be fraught with controversy. Industrialised countries have not yet committed to the emission reduction targets that scientific evidence requires in order to give us even a 50 per cent chance of stabilising temperatures at 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and there is not yet any clarity about the mitigation actions that major developing countries will be prepared to commit to.

As the clock on the website of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ticks down by the second to the event, the desire is that an international treaty to tackle climate change will be able to be agreed. It may be too optimistic to think that this is still possible. Signals running into COP15 are not encouraging. Political figures have acknowledged that the chances of agreeing a legally binding treaty are flagging, although the hope remains that some form of agreement can be settled on, with a fully-fledged legally-binding treaty being entered into some time in 2010.

The success of COP15, for many, hinges on that.

To view the survey, click on the link below.