Copenhagen, evaluation and future prospects

摘要

Never before have so many Heads of State, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of leading companies and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), tried so hard to reach an agreement on reducing the human impact on the global climate. The media coverage was unprecedented. What remains in many minds is a disappointing outcome of an ambitious and chaotic process. This editorial reviews the process and the outcome. It puts the negotiations in a historic perspective and looks further ahead. The issue of climate change will not go away. The challenge for countries and companies is now to position them in the techno-economic competition towards a climate-neutral world. For the time being, they will have to settle for a kind of pledge and review regime. A smaller negotiation table and more creative issue linkage will be necessary to develop the type of regime really needed. The G-20 could well serve as the platform to negotiate such a regime.