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Governments fail on ambition at UN climate change talks - WWF

After two weeks of sparring and a day-long extension, governments once again failed to provide the inspiration and ambition to tackle climate change at the UN climate change talks in Durban, said WWF.

According to WWF, governments reached a weak agreement that established a Green Climate Fund with little money, postponed major decisions on the content of the Kyoto Protocol, and made an unclear commitment to a global agreement from 2020 that could leave us legally bound to 4 degrees of global warming.

“Governments did just enough to keep talking, but their job is to protect their people. They failed to do that here in Durban today. Science tells us that we need to act right now – because the extreme weather, droughts and heat waves caused by climate change will get worse, said Samantha Smith, leader of WWF’s global climate and energy initiative in a statement.

“But it is clear today that the mandates of a few political leaders have outweighed the concerns of millions, leaving people and the natural world we depend on at risk. Catastrophe is a strong word but it is not strong enough for a future with 4 degrees of warming", she said.

"Unfortunately, governments here have spent the last two crucial final days of negotiations focused on only a handful of specific words in the negotiating texts, instead of spending their political capital on committing to more and real action to address climate change", she added.

Source: WWF