COPENHAGEN’S DISAPPOINTING DÉNOUEMENT: ANATOMY OF A FAILED CONVOCATION

Richard Faulk, Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP

Abstract

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference is over. For two weeks, the United Nations and its member nations waited expectantly for “change” – waited, cajoled, argued, accused, threatened, and ultimately, disappointed everyone involved as they struggled on the “World Stage” of Copenhagen’s Bella Center. Tens of thousands watched inside and outside the Center while the convocation became ever more divisive and quarrelsome as the “developing” nations of the world demanded that their “developed” counterparts “share” their wealth and technology to “save the planet.”

From the beginning of the conference, few informed attendees realistically expected significant progress, largely because of the twin problems of funding sufficiency and verification. They were not disappointed. In the end, the conference fulfilled realistic expectations by delivering no legally binding agreements. Considering the energy, enthusiasm, cost and political capital spent pursuing elusive commitments, many terms can be used to describe the convocation – but “successful” is not one of them.