Earth Equity News

Mood Mixed as Climate Summit Ends. By Richard Black, BBC, December 14, 2008. "The UN climate summit has ended with delegates taking very different views on how much it has achieved. Western delegates said progress here had been encouraging, but environment groups said rich countries had not shown enough ambition. Developing nations were angry that more money was not put forward to protect against climate impacts. The meeting is the halfway point on a two-year process aimed at reaching a deal in Copenhagen by the end of 2009... The only concrete decision of any major significance concerned the management of the Adaptation Fund, which gathers money to help poorer countries protect their societies and economies against the impacts of climate change. Developing countries lobbied for easier access to the money, and they won the day. The money comes from a 2% levy on carbon trading under the UN Clean Development Mechanism, which aims to fund projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. The decision means that adaptation money can begin to flow at some point next year. But there is general acknowledgment that the current level of funds - about $80m - is far lower than will be needed. To bridge the gap, developing countries wanted greatly to expand the levy to cover other kinds of carbon trade. This would have multiplied the amount of money going into the fund by at least an order of magnitude. When western nations declined to support the plan, many developing countries expressed their anger."