http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/12/08/the-danish-text-disrupts-copenhagen-what-you-need-to-know.aspxFull Post
Posted Tuesday, December 08, 2009 12:33 PM
The ‘Danish Text’ Disrupts Copenhagen: What You Need to Know
Daniel Stone
You might call it a modest setback to the climate talks. Or you might call it the puncturing of a lung in Copenhagen that has left negotiations wheezing on the floor.
On day two of the two-week conference, attention focused late in the day on what’s been dubbed the Danish Text, a document devised by several parties—including Denmark, the U.K., and the U.S.—that would hand most regulatory control to rich nations and would replace the U.N. as arbiter of global cuts with the World Bank’s more financially minded eye. Small players at the table, specifically the developing nations that have sought to pin large countries to the mat on making cuts, interpret the Danish proposal as a deeply troubling attempt by the biggest emitters to maintain control over their emissions…and the rest of the world's.
The proposal (document here) is essentially a reversal of the main principle of the Kyoto Protocol, which provided that large countries make sweeping steps to curb their emissions, but excludes smaller countries that may be limited in doing so. In an about-face, the Danish document proposes that future negotiations would take place on larger countries’ political and economic turf. But to the developing countries, the most infuriating component of the proposal comes down to numbers. Under the plan, by 2050 poor countries would have to limit per capita emissions at 1.44 tons, while rich countries would be given extra leeway at 2.67 tons per person.
Drafters of the text maintain that the proposal wasn't intended to be released until more countries could offer amendments and sign on, and that the leaked draft is far from final. But that reasoning isn't seeming to resonate in Copenhagen at the moment. Poor countries see the draft as a way the wool was almost pulled over their eyes. And even stateside, climate watchers have labeled the secret nature of the proposal "despicable," dishonest, and unfair.
Whether the negotiations can recover is an open question. Considering the urgent demands of curbing emissions is not going away, it’s likely they will. But the biggest difference now is the hefty amount of humility larger countries will need to exhibit in order to bring everyone back to the table. With the risk of the breakdown of the talks being blamed on them, there’s certainly extra incentive for the parties at the center of the document to get things back on track.
UPDATE: Briefing reporters Tuesday evening in Copenhagen, U.S. delegate Jonathan Pershing played down the implications of the document. "There is no single Danish text, there are many Danish texts." He went on, "If there was no Danish text, I would be appalled" since "[the delegates'] job is to bring something to the table."
Other source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/copenhagen-climate-summit-disarray-danish-textThis is very interesting. I do like the
UPDATE: from the US delegate "There is no single Danish text, there are many Danish texts." Classic double speak.
