COP15 for journalists: a guide to the UN climate change summit

[Mike Shanahan]

IIED has today published a four-page briefing paper for journalists about the COP15 climate change summit that will take place in Copenhagen in December.

This briefing covers COP15, its build up and its aftermath. It explains key processes, major actions to be agreed and possible outcomes.

It has been reviewed by three international lawyers who sit on national delegations during UN negotiations.

It covers things like:
• The future of the Kyoto Protocol – do some countries really want to kill it?
• Different COP15 outcomes, from no agreement to two legally binding protocols
• Hot topics and sticking points in the negotiations – forests, fossil fuels and finance.
• Where developing nations agree – and where they disagree.
• Different negotiating blocks, and what they stand for.

Download the briefing: COP15 for journalists: a guide to the UN climate change summit

Best wishes
Mike

[Andy Mydellton]

All associated issues listed above must surely be high on the Copenhagen agenda. Even so, if there is a sniff of success Barack Obama will be there; if so, then other world leaders are likely to go and raise the stakes further. (Sadly I may not be able to go to the summit due to a workload that I must get through before the New Year.) Personally I am optimistic about progress - but a legally binding contract? Probably next year...