Climate Action Network Canada Response to "Copenhagen Accord"

"The job is not done.

The Copenhagen Accord is not ambitious, it is not fair and it is not binding.

This agreement has huge loopholes and gaps.  The goals for reducing pollution keep us on a path that science says leads to catastrophic warming.

The financing in this deal to help developing countries confront a crisis not of their making amounts to less than the subsidies nations serve up to the fossil fuel industry.

It is essential that countries work to finalise a strong agreement in the next 6 months.   Countries should meet as many times as is needed over these 6 months to ensure that there is not another failure to get a deal that gets the job done.

In the mean time, we are faced with a very costly delay, with costs measured in human lives, and in dollars.

At best, we are confronted with dangerous delay that means millions of families run the risks of unnecessary tragedy.  The impacts of this delay will be felt in every country, and will fall particularly hard on poor people in developing country.

The longer the delay the higher the costs will mount, and the fewer opportunities we will have to invest in solutions that drive economic growth.

It also means delaying the investments in clean energy that can drive our global economy, bringing jobs and prosperity to millions in every country.  We risk locking in growth on the dirty energy path.

Longer we wait the worse it gets: the International Energy Agency tells us that every year of delay costs $500 billion dollars.

This delay benefits only the narrow interests of big oil and the fossil fuel industry.  All of the rest of us are losers.  

The science is clear, we have the means, all we are missing is the will.

We need to commit to cutting pollution as the science tells us.  We need to invest in clean energy growth.  And we need to provide the help developing  countries deserve to confront a crisis not of their making."