ISAS Briefs

The climate change summit began in Copenhagen on 7 December 2009. The climate in which it began was somewhat better than most analysts and observers had believed would be the case. There was greater optimism as the opening ceremony was held. This was largely the result of the announcements made by the United States, China and India - three of the four largest polluters of the atmosphere - a few days before the summit was convened, that they will be willing to take a number of important steps to control the amount of carbon their economies were putting out in the atmosphere. While in Singapore on his visit to Asia, United States President Barack Obama met with a number of world leaders and agreed that there was not enough time to produce an enforceable international treaty at Copenhagen. There will, instead, be a focus on developing political consensus to produce such a treaty in 2010, possibly as soon as the summer of next year. President Obama also indicated that he would be addressing the summit at the beginning of the week-long session. This brief discusses the lead up to the summit and the positions taken by some of the more important players. The second brief will examine the outcome of the summit.