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UN climate summit stops short of endorsement
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The UN climate conference has ended with a bare minimum agreement. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon conceded the "Copenhagen Accord" may be a disappointment to some, but stressed it was an essential beginning.
There was spontaneous applause as the climate conference's plenary session President Philip Weech announced parties attending the climate conference agree to "note" the "Copenhagen accord."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says it is a step in the right direction, although he agreed the accord might not be everything that everyone had hoped for.
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, said, "All countries agreed to work towards a common long term goal to agree to limit global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius. Many countries made the important commitment to reduce or eliminate emissions."
The accord is a non-binding deal for combating global warming.
Ban highlights three tests that lay before world leaders, turning the agreement into a legally binding treaty, the launch of the Copenhagen green climate fund and finally pursing "the road of higher ambition."
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, said, "Current mitigation commitments failed to meet the scientific bottom line. We still face a series of consequences. So while I'm satisfied we have a deal in Copenhagen I am aware it is just the beginning."
The 193 nations stopped short of a full endorsement of the plan. It sets a target of limiting global warming to a maximum two degrees Celsius rise over pre-industrial times, and holds out the prospect of 100 billion U.S.dollars in annual aid from 2020 for developing nations.
The plan does not specify greenhouse gas cuts needed to achieve the two Celsius goal, which is seen as a threshold for dangerous climate changes.
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