CLIMATE CHANGE

• 1. The Copenhagen Climate Conference (December 7-18, 2009)

• 2. Commitment of France in fighting climate change
• 3. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
• 4. Statements of France
• 5. Reference documents
• 6. Useful links

1. The Copenhagen Climate Conference (December 7-18, 2009)

A. Assessment of the Copenhagen Conference

The Copenhagen Conference proved to be the exceptional event it was expected to be, with a historic level of
participation (130 of the 192 countries having ratified the Climate Convention were represented by their Heads of
State or Government), an unprecedented audience (more than 45,000 accredited representatives), and global media
coverage.
The goal of the Conference was to bring together the entire international community to focus on the future climate
change regime to be implemented by the end of 2012, the expiration date of the Kyoko Protocol.
Copenhagen was meant to be the culmination of the Action Plan launched in Bali in 2007. Two years of work have
resulted in major progress being achieved regarding the main topics of negotiation (shared vision, curbing emissions,
including from deforestation, adaptation, financing and transfer of technology). However, starting in 2009 it became
apparent that in order to achieve an agreement on a treaty in 2010 it would be vital to reach a political agreement by
the end of 2009.
This was accomplished under extremely tense conditions and the Copenhagen Conference almost failed. For the first
time, the majority of the international community took steps towards stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions by
endorsing the objective of limiting global temperature increases to less than 2˚C.

The Copenhagen Accord led to the following 10 major achievements which did not previously exist in any text of
global significance:
1. Support for the 2˚C objective and confirmation of a global emissions peak “as early as possible”;
2. The creation of a specific framework to help the most vulnerable countries adapt to climate change;
3. Recording of the 2020 reduction targets of developed countries
4. Recording of the mitigation measures to be implemented by 2020 by developing countries;
5. Guidelines on the system for monitoring the commitments;
6. Implementation of a mechanism to combat deforestation;
7. Provision of financial resources to support mitigation actions, with a commitment of $30 billion for the period 2010-
2012, the setting of a goal of $100 billion per year in 2020 for climate support in developing countries and the creation
of a climate fund;
8. Use of innovative financing;
9. The creation of a mechanism to accelerate technology deployment;
10. Monitoring of the agreement’s implementation between now and 2015, with adjustment of the objectives if
necessary.

The current structure will continue after Copenhagen:

The mandates of the two main ad hoc working groups established in Bali, one on the future of the Climate
Convention (AWG-LCA) and the other on the future of the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) were extended in Copenhagen.
The texts drawn up, which are well advanced with regard to certain topics, should form the basis of the future
international treaty. The legal implication linking the political agreement with the future work of the two working groups
will be key to achieving the ambitious, global treaty we are all hoping for. The Copenhagen Accord, negotiated on
December 18, 2009, by around 30 Heads of State and Government falls firmly within the framework of the United
Nations even though its adoption by all of the Parties to the Conference is restricted to one notable decision.
Its goal is therefore to go beyond a political statement through which the Heads of State and Government express
their willingness to commit to continuing the process and establishing their guidelines. Its true scope will depend on
its formal adoption, in particular through the texts relating to its implementation.

B. The contribution of France and the EU in the negotiations

France and its European partners have invested a great deal of effort towards achieving an agreement in
Copenhagen. During the Bali negotiation process, the European Union developed an ambitious position aimed at
reaching a global agreement on climate change. France intervened directly at the Copenhagen Conference through
the President of the Republic who, together with Angela Merkel and Gordon Brown in particular, managed to break
the deadlock in the negotiation process, thus allowing a political agreement to be reached.

Press Conference of President of the Republic, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, 18 December 2009

France successfully defended the principle of creating a Global Environmental Organization which should be
developed further in 2010.
The accord also allowed considerable progress to be made with regard to the forestry issue in the broad sense
(REDD+) which is one of France’s priorities. France was rewarded for the position that it took on this topic at the
Conference. The political agreement thus provides for the immediate implementation of a mechanism aimed at
combating deforestation and forest degradation and the commitment to provide funding for this purpose.
The innovative financing mechanisms promoted by France to fund the fight against climate change also have a role
to play in the political agreement. The tax on financial transactions falls within this category. Copenhagen made it
possible to obtain commitments from developed countries to contribute $100 million per year from now until 2020.
The Copenhagen Accord has already announced the need for funding of $30 billion for the period 2010-2012, in
particular for the most vulnerable countries (least developed countries (LDC), Small Island States and Africa). In this
respect, France has pledged to contribute €420 million per year over three years.

C. Post-Copenhagen

The Copenhagen Accord represents a major milestone, paving the way for an ambitious course of action in 2010
with:
— quantified commitments from all countries to be recorded, by January 31, in the two annexes of the agreement.
The UE confirmed its previous annoucnement that it would make a unilateral 20 percent cut below 1990 levels, or 30
percent if others act;
— Meeting of the UNFCC in Bonn, 9 to 11 April;
— Meeting of the UNFCC in Bonn, 31 May to 11 June;
— the COP16, the next Conference of the Parties, in Cancun (Mexico) from 29 November to 10 December. This
conference has a broad mandate and aims in particular to achieve a legally binding commitment.

22 January 2010 - Speech by the President of the Republic: New Year’s Greetings to the Foreign
Diplomatic Corps (Elys�e Palace)

Excerpts on the Copenhagen Climate Conference

The main lesson of Copenhagen is that it is no longer possible for 192 parties to negotiate according to the same
procedures. One hundred thirty Heads of State made the journey to Copenhagen because they appreciated the
importance of the stakes. Upon their arrival, they found an absolutely illegible text that had been negotiated for two
years yet still contained 91 sets of brackets! In other words, 91 paragraphs whose survival no one could guarantee!
There remained 36 hours, minus an official dinner, to reach a 192-party agreement. Who will stand up to defend such
a process? This is what led me to propose upon arriving in Copenhagen that the negotiations should take place, Mr.
Prime Minister, within a balanced, representative group comprising 28 countries. That number could have been 32,
34, 25…. The agreement that was adopted, which must now be ratified by all of our nations, contains 10 positive
points. It is a good foundation on which to build this June in Bonn, and then in December in Cancun.
But I want to ask France a question: How are we going to move forward? By resuming 192-party negotiations as
though nothing had happened? In that case, failure is guaranteed. I want to propose in your presence, Mesdames et
Messieurs les Ambassadeurs, a new, pragmatic approach that I hope will be universally accepted. The wise thing
would be to pursue a two-track negotiating process: one involving all 192 countries, because it alone would establish
the entire international community’s commitment, and that of the Group of 28, which has demonstrated its
effectiveness and could enrich, stimulate and help advance the work being carried out by 192.
Starting in March, France proposes that we begin holding monthly meetings of the Group of 28 in New York or in
Bonn at the ministerial or Sherpa level. They would issue proposals for the discussions that take place at the plenary
sessions, thus ensuring that we would arrive in Cancun for an efficiently prepared meeting.

2. Commitment of France in fighting climate change

Setting an example at the national level, with the “Grenelle de l’Environnement ” (Environment Round Table)
This process brought together the Government and representatives from civil society for the first time in 2007 to
create a road map to support sustainable ecology, development and land-use.
Excerpts taken from the speech made by the President of the French Republic at the concluding
session of the Grenelle de l’environnement

“France has not fallen behind. But France now wants to be in the lead. And this is what has prompted the changes
that we are proposing today in France. Our ambition is not to be as mediocre as others in our objectives. It is not to
be average. Our ambition is to be in the vanguard and to set an example. At the United Nations, France called for a
worldwide economic and ecological New Deal. France cannot hope that its appeal will be heard if it doesn’t apply the
strongest measures to itself. How can you set an example if you cannot comply yourself with the rules that you are
asking others to adopt?
This is the spirit in which I called for this Grenelle de l’Environnement.
Grenelle stands for shared discussion and shared proposals. This Grenelle is a success. It is a success that we owe
to environmental non-governmental organizations, which proved equal to taking on this unusual role.”

(Thursday 25 October 2007)

Through a European commitment to become the global leader in the fight against climate change:
The climate-energy legislative package , adopted under the French presidency of the European Union Council on
December 12, 2008, was a historical step: the European Union is the first major global economy to adopt an
operational, detailed and binding program to introduce commitments aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by
20% by 2020, as well as improving energy efficiency by 20%, with renewable energy accounting for 20% of energy
consumption by this time.
 Strong involvement in New York
On 22 September 2009, a Summit on Climate Change was organized in New York in the run-up to Copenhagen. It
was attended by more than 100 Heads of State and Government. President Sarkozy was invited by Secretary-
General Ban Ki-Moon to speak at the opening plenary session along with seven other Heads of State and
Government (Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, President of the
Republic of Maldives, Mr. Hu Jintao, President of the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, Prime
Minister of Japan, Mr. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr.
�scar Arias S�nchez, President of Costa Rica).

President of France Nicolas Sarkozy Addresses Summit on Climate Change

UN Photo/Marco Castro

In his speech, French President Nicolas Sarkozy recalled the four principles which would make Copenhagen a
success:
"- Reducing global emissions by 50% [below 1990 levels] by 2050;
- For the developed countries, we don’t need a reduction of 50%, but one of at least 80% by 2050;
- For the emerging countries, the growth of their emissions must be reduced, with technological and financial
assistance from the developed countries;
- And finally, somehow or other, we’ll have to pay for the most vulnerable countries, those of Africa and the small
island States, there’s no other choice.”
President Sarkozy ended his statement with the proposal to create a single World Environment Organization.
“Making a success of Copenhagen isn’t everything, we also have to be able to manage the consequences of the
decisions taken in Copenhagen. There are around 60 scattered organizations dealing with the same questions, let’s
create a World Environment Organization, decide in principle to do so in Copenhagen.”

3. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

The framework Convention was adopted during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and entered into force on
21 March 1994. It recognized that climate change has human causes and called primarily on industrialized countries
to fight against this phenomenon.
The Convention sets an ultimate objective: the stabilization of the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere at a level that prevents dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The States
agreed to reach this level within a sufficient time frame to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, so
that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.
The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, was an essential step in the implementation of the Convention, since it provided
quantified commitments. Under the Protocol, industrialized countries pledged to meet quotas for reducing or limiting
emissions of greenhouse gases, usually for the first Commitment Period, i.e. 2008 - 2012.
The multilateral regime on climate change is evolving. The international community must reach a new agreement
which will be a successor to the Kyoto Protocol for the period after 2012. The aim now is to make sure that all Parties
make commitments in the fight against climate change. Formal negotiations on the development of a multilateral
regime post 2012 began with the roadmap agreed in Bali in 2007, continued in Copenhagen in December 2009, and
will hopefully be concluded at Cancun (Mexico) at the end of 2010.

(February 2010)

4. Statements of France

11 January 2010 - General Assembly- Statement by Mr G�rard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the
UN
22 September 2009 - Speech delivered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the United Nations Summit on
Climate Change

5. Reference documents

18 December 2009, the Copenhagen Accord

14 November 2009, Elys�e Palace - Common Position of the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil and
the Government of the French Republic on Climate Change
Brochure on France’s international action on global warming (16 page report - PDF)
September 14, 2009 - Joint article by Bernard Kouchner, Carl Bildt, David Miliband, Per Stig M�ller, Miguel �ngel
Moratinos Cuyaub�, and Alexander Stubb, published in the “Le Figaro” newspaper
Tuesday 7 July 2009 - UK-French Summit: Declaration on international climate negotiations

6. Useful links

Environmental diplomacy section on the website of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
EU information sheets on the Copenhagen Conference
Website of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
Website of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Gateway to the UN System’s Work on Climate Change