COP 15: twelve days to save the planet

Gland, Switzerland – The climate conference in Copenhagen is the best opportunity to agree on a climate deal that can save the planet from devastating climate change. We need to take it.

“An ambitious climate deal is not a punishment. It is an amazing political and economic opportunity. It is the most important document politicians will ever sign,” Carstensen said.

After months of preparations the time has finally come. Tens of thousands of negotiators and politicians are gathering in Copenhagen, and millions of people from around the world will be watching them. Their lives, the lives of their children and grandchildren will depend on the decisions made in Denmark. Leaders have been given twelve days to save the planet and they must use them.

“Copenhagen is the best time and opportunity to agree on a climate deal which could save our planet from catastrophic climate change. Another opportunity like that may not come in time,” said Kim Carstensen, the leader of WWF Global Climate Initiative. “The world has given a green light for a climate deal. Citizens, media, NGOs, businesses, church members and most other relevant institutions have given politicians their backing and urged them to make the only right decision: sign an ambitious climate agreement.”

According to WWF, there is a clear choice to be made: Leaders can take the unique opportunity and try to repair the damage before it is too late, allow people and businesses around the world to start a smooth transition into a low carbon economy and start benefiting from it as soon as possible. Or they can delay it, put lives of millions of people at risk, and deprive the world of the greatest opportunity of our lifetime: a green and sustainable future.

“An ambitious climate deal is not a punishment. It is an amazing political and economic opportunity. It is the most important document politicians will ever sign,” Carstensen said. “A lack of a climate deal is a dangerous experiment in full scale with the planet. It’s a risk we cannot afford to take.”

A strong climate deal could give millions of businesses the chance to shift to a low carbon future. It could not only help revive many struggling economies, lift many countries out of poverty, give chances to people who never had any. It could also reduce wars, hunger and natural disasters.

“Whoever recognizes the vast opportunities and benefits that come with a strong climate deal is a true leader,” Carstensen said.

The climate deal reached in Copenhagen must secure deep emissions cuts from industrialized countries, together with predictable and additional long-term funding to protect the poor against the effects of climate change and to enable them to move onto a low-carbon development path. And it must provide a new framework for ambitious climate action to limit emissions in developing countries.

“Going into this conference we don’t have enough on the table. The commitments made so far will not keep the world under the two degrees of warming, which is a threshold of unacceptable risks of runaway catastrophic climate change,” said Kim Carstensen. “This has to change over the next twelve days, where leaders must find the way to live up to the expectations of millions of people.” “The two key tests to be met in Copenhagen are the measures adequate and are the measures fair”

For further information
Natalia Reiter
+41798738099
nreiter@wwfint.org

About WWF
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

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