The Copenhagen Accord, the closest thing to a deal to emerge from the climate change summit, represents a step forward in dealing with the planet’s most pressing issue but stronger action is still needed. While many of the challenges negotiators faced in Copenhagen were inevitable and expected, two problems at the heart of the disappointing outcome--the insistence on binding, internationally-agreed-upon targets, for which countries are still obviously unprepared, and the conflation of the mitigation and aid agendas, which makes reaching a binding agreement on either impractical—could have been avoided. If the global community learns from Copenhagen’s mistakes, much greater progress can be made on both of these objectives.
Original Article: After Copenhagen - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
