Last month the 15th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) closed by announcing the Copenhagen Accord drawn up by major participating countries. Although the process produced some positive results — such as calls for steps to hold the global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius and to streamline the mechanism for funding developing nations — agreement on a new framework to succeed the Kyoto Protocol was put off. Signatories were asked to work for a new strategy formulation.
COP15 provides two lessons for the international community. The first is the realization of how difficult consensus building is at the global level. Neither the European Union, which had continued to take the lead on the global warming issue, nor Japan, which had proposed a drastic 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 from 1990 levels, were able to take the initiative at the conference.
An agreement drafted with the two major polluting countries — the United States and China — playing a central role was not adopted because of objections from small countries. As long as the U.N. unanimous-agreement formula continues, adopting a resolution will be almost impossible.