Karin Ireton, Standard Bank’s Director of Group Sustainability Management, attended COP15 and writes:
So the Copenhagen meeting has come to an end… with a disappointing result on many counts.
All the energy that was put into arguing, delaying and postponing decisions and commitments is now likely to be put into defending a sub-optimal outcome. It will take a while to understand the full consequences not only of the Copenhagen Accord but also of the other texts that were negotiated over many months. What is their status now?
It will all begin to become evident once the negotiators have caught up on some sleep and probably taken a Christmas break enforced by extraordinary snow storms.
It will be interesting to see whether the so-called key players are caught out by the lack of result. The Danish Prime Minister is likely to endure ongoing criticism for poor chairmanship.
If you have ever wanted to visit the Maldives perhaps do it sooner rather than later. It seems unlikely that the small island states will be spared the ongoing effects of climate change if this is what world leadership does in what scientists tell us are crisis circumstances. Of course with the advent of extraordinary snow storms across America and Europe the cynics are all wondering whether this is global warming or global cooling.
To set the record straight, nobody ever projected a straight line rise in temperature. What is predicted is ongoing uncertainty and extreme storm events. Perhaps we are getting a bigger message.
For more info, visit
http://www.blog.standardbank.com/book-page/climate-change-good-us-allhttp://www.blog.standardbank.com/blog/standard-bank-team/2009/12/opportunities-do-still-exist-copenh...
