Climate Negotiations Run on Cold, Hard Cash

by Katherine Gustafson · 2009-12-12 06:00:00 UTC
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When it comes down to it, the Copenhagen climate summit is all about the green stuff. And by that I don't mean virgin rainforests. I mean money. Cold, hard cash.

The environmental editor of the UK's Guardian newspaper, John Vidal, expresses this truth succinctly: "Ecology and morals count in the public arena, but as the negotiations progress and world leaders arrive to take the stage, money will dominate the backroom talks."

We can't fight climate change with good intentions; greening our systems and dealing with the consequences of warming that are already inevitable will cost, and somebody's gotta pay for it. That's the question that's really being hashed out at Copenhagen: Who?

Developing countries, especially those that face the worst impacts (such as disappearing altogether), demand that developed countries give them funds to do what needs to be done. The argument is that we developed nations hold most of the responsibility for messing up the climate in the first place so it's not fair for us to demand that others clean up our mess (or to put the brakes on their own development to not make it worse) without helping them do it.

Copenhagen is all about hashing out how much is enough and who will contribute what. The European Union has just stepped up with a contribution of $3.6 billion in a "fast-start fund," which will start next year to help poor countries manage, according to the New York Times. While at first blush it's phenomenal news that the  EU will end up disbursing $10.8 billion over three years, there is some fear that the money will be made up of dollars that have already been promised for aid and development work.

Assuming that the money isn't a green-washing job, however, the EU's commitment will improve the possibility of reaching an agreement in Copenhagen considering that insufficient funds will be a sticking point in the negotiations. For a process powered by the Benjamins, this is a good start.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Katherine Gustafson
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