“Danish Text” Stirs Outrage at Copenhagen Climate Talks [Update -- 2:42 PM]
Update – 2:42 PM: The Danish proposal would impose per capita limits on carbon emissions for developed and developing countries. This would allow rich countries by 2050 to continue to emit twice as much green house gas and CO2 than poorer nations.
One of the most contentious issues in the text is a proposal for the World Bank, a very unpopular institution in the third world, to oversee the climate change-related funding. Developing nations would have to commit to specific emission cuts to get the World Bank funding.
Lesser developed nations are infuriated by the circulated agreement because it would violate the principle, adopted in the Kyoto agreement, that rich nations bear the primary responsibility for cutting emissions while poorer nations do not bear the responsibility.
BusinessGreen reports:
Emotions have been running high in the build up to the talks and while many smaller nations lack the authority to impose substantial changes on the final agreement, they could yet boycott the talks if they feel the treaty does not provide sufficient protection for the developing world.
First, there was “climategate” and now we have the snappily named “Danish text.”
The text, a draft agreement among the “circle of commitment,” which is believed to include the United States, the United Kingdom and Denmark, would give developing nations a raw deal in the proposed climate change agreement.
The document, which was obtained by The Guardian newspaper, would force developing countries to commit to emissions curbs, though it does not specify the mitigation action.
