COP15 Negotiators Face Daunting Task

Published December 07, 2009

The tide may have turned before the 15th annual conference of parties (COP 15) started.

As I sit in the airport waiting to catch my flight to Copenhagen (yes, I am flying as this is the only practical way to get there), I am struck by the sheer enormity of the situation facing negotiators over the next two weeks.

Getting to a binding decision on climate change will be no easy feat. However, unlike last year's COP 14 in Poznan, this year's COP seems very different. The political will to achieve something definitive has seen a monumental shift in recent weeks and countries are now openly talking about emissions cuts, intensity targets, etc.

So now the stage is set and the proceedings have started. Motivation to succeed is apparent and for the first time in almost a decade, the U.S. is fully engaged in the process. What then, I ask myself, could go wrong?

Well, 192 nations need to reach a common consensus and that historically has been a considerable challenge. However, delegates seem not to have lost sight of the bigger picture this time around and if that lasts for the duration of these negotiations, then COP 15 in Copenhagen could go down in history as the most poignant and arguably the most momentous since Kyoto in 1997.

Miles Austin is head of European regulatory affairs for EcoSecurities.

Click here for full coverage of COP15 from the GreenBiz.com and ClimateBiz.com teams, including posts from Copenhagen by Executive Editor Joel Makower and Senior Contributor Marc Gunther, and from dozens of guest contributors from the business world.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

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