Climate Change Deal Could Be Ebbing Away

"We know the fault lines because we have been imprisoned by them for years - the time for talk is over." So said President Obama in his speech at COP15 in Copenhagen. Obama called for unified action rather than delay and repeating "the same stale arguments" while the climate change problem escalated.

The speech was quite self-congratulatory about the US and the major economies response to the problem (cutting US emissions "in the range of 17% by 2020"), with no mention of a real target of keeping temperatures below 1.5C or 2C.

He reiterated Hilary Clinton's promise of fast start funding for developing countries "that will ramp up to $10 billion by 2012" and "we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100billion by 2020 if, and only if, it's part of a general accord."

Leaked reports in the media this morning suggest that the likely deal coming out of Copenhagen based on current emissions cuts commitments would put temperatures on course for a 3C rise.

With the conference drawing to a close, we'll know soon enough if we're getting out of jail or if we're following Canada PM Harper's example and throwing away the key.

Obama's COP15 speech (11 mins)