Are we heading for a 3* temperature increase? The out-come of COP 17
The 2011 United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP 17, finished in the early hours of Sunday 11th December. This is the out-line of the agreements that were reached over the past 13 days:
Negotiations will begin immediately for a new climate change agreement which will capture the commitments of all countries with “legal force”. It must be agreed no later than 2015 and come into force by 2020 at the latest.
A second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol will start in 2013, binding the promises of 35 developed countries led by members of the European Union. Japan, Russia and Canada have dropped out, joining US which has never been a party. The new commitment period will be for 5 or 8 years, yet to be agreed.
Legal and administrative issues necessary to launch the Green Climate Fund in 2012 have been approved. No detail has been forthcoming on how the promise of funding of $100 billion per annum by 2020 will be achieved.
Listen to the final statement by the President of COP 17 here and what the Union of Concerned Scientists said about the final out-come, here.
