So what happened at Copenhagen?

I said in my last post I would blog about my impression of the Copenhagen conference. I was there as I had been invited to speak at one of the many 'side meetings', (a European Parliament event on 'carbon trading), but as it was taking place inside the main venue, I was able to get a good 'feel' for the way negotiations were going. And what strikes me most was the way that the fairly positive attitude on Thursday that a reasonably 'far-reaching' agreement was achievable did not actually result in that type of agreement at the end of the day.

There's no doubt that the outcome of Copenhagen is extremely disappointing - it is not what tackling climate change needed, and the agreement (or rather 'accord') is a lot less than seemed possible earlier in the week. I can certainly understand why some have argued that the EU should have refused to go along with the final deal.
However, there are some positive outcomes from Copenhagen, and at the end of the day I can't see that there is any alternative to trying to build on what the progress that has been made, limited though that has been.

What the Copenhagen experience emphasises for me is the even greater need for a genuinely international citizen's movement to put pressure on the governments of the world to deliver meaningful action on climate change. I'm glad, at least, that our goverment, under Gordon Brown's leadership, was at the forefront of seeking a strong deal at Copenhagen - I'm in no doubt that without that leadership, there would have been a lot less in the deal (particularly on the issue of finance for developing countries)than there was at the end of the day).

Crunch time at Copenhagen...

The climate change conference at Copenhagen is now reaching its final stages, and I was one of a group of Labour MPs with a special issue on climate change issues who were briefed by Gordon Brown yesterday. There's no doubt that his, and the British government's, leadership efforts to forge a deal are making an impact. I'm going to be in Copenhagen myself on Thursday, speaking at a European Parliament meeting about the report to the Prime Minister on carbon trading which I headed up. If time permits, I'll try and blog about that event briefly on here on Thursday, and to give my perspective on how the negotiations are going.