Why Copenhagen? Why now?

Why Copenhagen?

Copenhagen. No longer just the Danish capital, but now a word synonymous with the most important deal of our lifetime.

Say Copenhagen, hear, global agreement on climate change.

Say Copenhagen, hear, your future.

Some people are calling Copenhagen the most important meeting in the history of humanity, the beginning of a new era.

But what’s it really all about and how have we got to Copenhagen?

A recent history

Since the 1980s, humans have become clearly aware of their environmental impact, perhaps it was seeing the Earth from the Moon, which led to this awareness, but now humanity has woken up to the effect our actions have on our planet.

In 1992 the United Nations gathered in Rio for the Earth Summit, a conference that among other issues tried to find a solution to the climate issue. After some negotiations between states, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was brought together. This commits states around the world to come together to avoid dramatic climate change.

In 1997 this led to the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol provides most developed countries with legally binding targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions.

Since Kyoto, countries have meet annually in different parts of the world, to work on what comes after the Kyoto Protocol. In 2009 the meeting will be in Copenhagen in December.

These agreements take longer than two weeks a year to come together. So throughout the year negotiators meet to work on the process. In 2009 these meetings have taken place in Bonn, Bangkok and Barcelona.

Why 2009?

A fair, ambitious, and binding agreement coming out of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December could mean the difference between a manageable future and dire climatic consequences.

Copenhagen is so important because we now know we are dangerously close to reaching a tipping point on runaway climate change, we have to deal with this issue now.

A solution to climate change requires action at a global scale, no country can opt out, that’s why this process takes place at the UN. But the UN system is slow and unwieldy, it can take years for the details of agreements to be finalised. If we don’t get an agreement on climate change in 2009, by the time all the details have been ironed out, it may very well be too late.

Copenhagen presents us not just with a challenge, but also with an opportunity. An opportunity to completely re-imagine the way our world works, an opportunity not just to save the planet but also to make it better for all who live here.

That’s why Copenhagen is so important, and that’s why we need you to be involved.

Don’t leave your future in the hands of others!