In the weeks leading up to the United Nations summit on climate change in Copenhagen there was widespread controversy about what could be achieved. Some hoped that the leaders of the world would unite and come up with a binding resolution about carbon emissions, while others were more pessimistic, saying that this was just the first step and that real change would have to be carried out on a community and household level. After seeing many of the leaders arrive in private jets and limos it became clear that the pessimists were right, as the summit turned out to be nothing more than a lot of politicking with very little positive results.
Many are saying that the summit is an absolute failure as it was unable to tackle many of the most important issues of the times. There were few agreements made at the meeting although America and China finally admitted that they had the most to do and that huge cuts in carbon would be needed. The rich nations of the world also agreed to a one hundred billion dollar a year fund that will go towards helping developing nations reduce their carbon emissions and set up greener infrastructure. Of course, this fund will not begin until 2020, so it is unlikely to have much effect over the next decade.
Although these represent first steps in the changes that need to be made, they are really nothing more than preliminary and not the type of sweeping changes and regulations that many environmental groups were hoping for.
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