Copenhagen climate summit wasn't a flop, reports say-154 new domestic policies initiated

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Copenhagen climate summit wasn't a flop, reports say
By JIM TANKERSLEY - Tribune Washington Bureau
Copyright: © 2010, Tribune Co.


WASHINGTON — The Copenhagen climate summit, roundly dubbed a failure when it ended last year, may actually have sparked significant steps toward curbing global warming, according to some environmentalists and financial analysts.

Analyses from groups, including Deutsche Bank, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the liberal Center for American Progress, are challenging the snap indictment of the December conference, which drew wide criticism for failing to produce a new treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Now, after adding up the individual commitments from the countries at the summit and translating them into tons of greenhouse gas emissions that will be kept out of the atmosphere, several analysts say the Copenhagen conference appears to have generated even more pledged emissions reduction than the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first major international climate agreement.

The conference was "no failure" and produced "the highest number of new government initiatives ever recorded ... in a four-month period," Deutsche Bank, which tracks climate policy as part of its research on clean energy investments, declared in a March report.

The bank attributed 154 new domestic policies to the talks, which were attended by representatives from 193 countries.

"Copenhagen served to raise awareness of the problem all over the world, and that in turn forced governments to focus on the issue," Kevin Parker, the bank's global head of asset management, wrote in the report.

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