“A Meaningful and Unprecedented Breakthrough in Copenhagen”

Copenhagen has been the epicenter of intense negotiations for the past two weeks about the necessity for global action to address the threat of climate change. President Obama arrived in Denmark on Friday. After remarks at the morning plenary session and several bilateral meetings, the President helped forge a last-minute agreement with China, India, South Africa and Brazil that now forms the basis of the Copenhagen Accord.

During a press conference Friday night (Copenhagen time), President Obama called the Accord “a meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough” because “for the first time in history all major economies have come together to accept their responsibility to take action to confront the threat of climate change.” That fact was echoed by the United Nations' top climate official, Yvo de Boer, who told the Washington Post the Accord was "politically incredibly significant," because so many world leaders personally participated in drafting it.   The Accord is not a binding agreement – and in the President’s own words, “we know that this progress alone is not enough” – but it does represent a significant step forward.

The talks hinged on three major issues – transparency (clear goals, monitoring and reporting), mitigation (a commitment to limit a rise in the Earth’s temperature) and financing (to help poorer nations adapt to climate change). From the New York Times:

The accord provides a system for monitoring and reporting progress toward those national pollution-reduction goals, a compromise on an issue over which China bargained hard. It calls for hundreds of billions of dollars to flow from wealthy nations to those countries most vulnerable to a changing climate. And it sets a goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2050, implying deep cuts in climate-altering emissions over the next four decades.

Grist has a round up of the provisions included in the Accord:

1. A commitment by developed nations to invest $30 billion over the next three years to help developing nations adapt to climate change and pursue clean energy development.

2. A provisional commitment by developed nations to develop a long-term $100 billion global fund by 2020 to assist developing nations in responding to climate change and become part of the clean energy economic transition.

3. A goal to pursue emissions reductions that are sufficient to keep the rise in global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius.

4. Pledges by nations to commit to concrete emissions reductions, though the specific levels of reduction were not set.

5. A general goal to subject participating countries to international review of their progress under the accord.

6. Diplomatic space for the United States and China to work together to solve climate change.

7. A commitment to complete an assessment of the effectiveness of the accord in reducing emissions by the end of 2015.

According to the New York Times, Senator John Kerry (MA), the lead author of clean energy and climate legislation in the Senate, said the Accord would drive Congress to pass climate change legislation early next year. “This can be a catalyzing moment,” he said Friday. “President Obama’s hands-on engagement broke through the bickering and sets the stage for a final deal and for Senate passage this spring of major legislation at home.”

Read President Obama's full remarks . . .

Today we've made meaningful and unprecedented -- made a meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough here in Copenhagen.  For the first time in history all major economies have come together to accept their responsibility to take action to confront the threat of climate change.

Let me first recount what our approach was throughout the year and coming into this conference.  To begin with, we've reaffirmed America's commitment to transform our energy economy at home.  We've made historic investments in renewable energy that have already put people back to work.  We've raised our fuel efficiency standards.  And we have renewed American leadership in international climate negotiations.

Most importantly, we remain committed to comprehensive legislation that will create millions of new American jobs, power new industry, and enhance our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

That effort at home serves as a foundation for our leadership around the world.  Because of the actions we're taking we came here to Copenhagen with an ambitious target to reduce our emissions.  We agreed to join an international effort to provide financing to help developing countries, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable, adapt to climate change.  And we reaffirmed the necessity of listing our national actions and commitments in a transparent way.

These three components -- transparency, mitigation and finance -- form the basis of the common approach that the United States and our partners embraced here in Copenhagen.  Throughout the day we worked with many countries to establish a new consensus around these three points, a consensus that will serve as a foundation for global action to confront the threat of climate change for years to come.

This success would have not been possible without the hard work of many countries and many leaders -- and I have to add that because of weather constraints in Washington I am leaving before the final vote, but we feel confident that we are moving in the direction of a significant accord.

In addition to our close allies who did so much to advance this effort, I worked throughout the day with Prime Minister Meles of Ethiopia, who was representing Africa, as well as Premier Wen of China, Prime Minister Singh of India, President Lula of Brazil, and President Zuma of South Africa, to achieve what I believe will be an important milestone.

Earlier this evening I had a meeting with the last four leaders I mentioned -- from China, India, Brazil, and South Africa.  And that's where we agreed to list our national actions and commitments, to provide information on the implementation of these actions through national communications, with international consultations and analysis under clearly defined guidelines.  We agreed to set a mitigation target to limit warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, and importantly, to take action to meet this objective consistent with science.

Taken together these actions will help us begin to meet our responsibilities to leave our children and our grandchildren a cleaner and safer planet.

Now, this progress did not come easily, and we know that this progress alone is not enough.  Going forward, we're going to have to build on the momentum that we've established here in Copenhagen to ensure that international action to significantly reduce emissions is sustained and sufficient over time.  We've come a long way, but we have much further to go.

To continue moving forward we must draw on the effort that allowed us to succeed here today -- engagement among nations that represent a baseline of mutual interest and mutual respect.  Climate change threatens us all; therefore, we must bridge old divides and build new partnerships to meet this great challenge of our time.  That's what we've begun to do here today.

For energy holds out not just the perils of a warming climate, but also the promise of a more peaceful and prosperous tomorrow.  If America leads in developing clean energy, we will lead in growing our economy, in putting our people back to work, and in leaving a stronger and more secure country to our children.

And around the world, energy is an issue that demands our leadership.  The time has come for us to get off the sidelines and to shape the future that we seek.  That's why I came to Copenhagen today, and that's why I'm committed to working in common effort with countries from around the globe.  That's also why I believe what we have achieved in Copenhagen will not be the end but rather the beginning, the beginning of a new era of international action.