Greenwire: 
Though many critics jumped to describe the climate change talks in Copenhagen as a bust because they did not produce a binding treaty on greenhouse gas emissions, several environmental groups and financial analysts have recently questioned that prevailing argument, pointing out that the high-profile negotiations prompted an unprecedented number of domestic policy shifts.
The talks yielded more comprehensive commitments than the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, several groups have concluded. It was “no failure,” according to a March report by Deutsche Bank, which produces market research on clean energy investment. The report found that countries implemented 154 new domestic policies around the talks, which included representatives of 193 countries.
The talks coincided with “the highest number of new government initiatives ever recorded … in a four-month period,” wrote Kevin Parker, the bank’s global head of asset management. “Copenhagen served to raise awareness of the problem all over the world, and that in turn forced governments to focus on the issue.”
Nations agreed in Copenhagen to submit voluntary and nonbinding pledges to cut emissions by 2020. The agreement established international monitoring for the pledges and billions of dollars in aid to help the developing world reduce emissions and adapt to warmer climate.
Environmental groups immediately criticized the outcome of the summit, saying it did not go far enough. Some groups, such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, have suggested that the talks were more useful than initially thought.
“What we’re starting to learn,” said Joe Aldy, President Obama’s special assistant on energy and environment, “is, with this approach where we say to countries, ‘Come forward and … make public your emissions targets and actions,’ it is creating almost a positive dynamic now, where countries look at their peers and say, ‘Wait, I should do something’” (Jim Tankersley, Los Angeles Times, April 1). – GN