Copenhagen — An agreement drawn up Friday night by leaders from the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa has been recognized Saturday morning by the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
"The conference of the parties takes note of the Copenhagen Accord," says a final decision.
The text is still strongly debated, and it remains to be seen how many countries will sign on to the Copenhagen Accord.
According to Danish daily Berlingske, the COP15 President, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, expresses satisfaction:
"I am satisfied. We have achieved a result. Now nations will need to sign on, and if they do so, they will support what has been agreed (in the Copenhagen Accord). This will have effect immediately."
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon: An essential beginning
Rie Jerichow and Nanet Poulsen report that after the climate summit in Copenhagen Saturday morning agreed to "take note" of the Copenhagen Accord, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon concluded that "finally, we sealed the deal," BBC reports.
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According to AP, he added that he was aware this was just the beginning of a process to craft a binding pact to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, but pointed out that the agreement would have "an immediate operational effect."
"It may not be everything we hoped for, but this decision of the Conference of Parties is an essential beginning ... The importance will only be recognized when it's codified into international law ... We must transform this into a legally binding treaty next year," he said according to BBC.
Head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat, Yvo de Boer, was not that enthusiastic.
In a press release from UNFCCC he stated: "We must be honest about what we have got. The world walks away from Copenhagen with a deal. But clearly ambitions to reduce emissions must be raised significantly if we are to hold the world to 2 degrees."
Because the pledges listed by developed and developing countries may, according to science, be found insufficient to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees or less, leaders called for a review of the accord, to be completed by 2015.
The review would include a consideration of the long-term goal to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.
119 world leaders attended the Un summit in Copenhagen, the largest gathering of heads of state and government in the history of the UN. "Climate change is the permanent leadership challenge of our time," said Ban Ki-moon. "I therefore urge world leaders to remain engaged," he said.
"We now have a package to work with and begin immediate action," said Yvo de Boer. "However, we need to be clear that it is a letter of intent and is not precise about what needs to be done in legal terms. So the challenge is now to turn what we have agreed politically in Copenhagen into something real, measurable and verifiable,"
The next annual UN Climate Change Conference will take place towards the end of 2010 in Mexico City, preceded by a major two week negotiating session in Bonn, Germany, scheduled 31 May to 11 June.
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