Copenhagen

The chance of a successful Paris climate deal depends on rich countries showing they have kept their past commitments, especially the promise they made in Copenhagen to jointly mobilize $100bn of climate financing per year by 2020, warned Oxfam today.

Oxfam International criticized today the agreement just reached by the Japanese Cabinet for watering down the country’s responsibility to contribute to global efforts to tackle climate change.

The ‘climate deal’ on the table in Copenhagen today is a triumph of spin over substance says Oxfam International. The deal – which has been announced by the US, India, China and South Africa - has not been endorsed by the EU and many other countries.

Oxfam International warned that world leaders have just two days to prevent failure at the climate talks in Copenhagen – poor countries will not sign a weak deal.

An international verdict on the human cost of climate change will be delivered to world leaders, on behalf of over one and a half million people from 35 countries who have raised their voices at Oxfam-supported climate hearings in 2009.

Celebrity Oxfam campaigners will be joining tens of thousands of demonstrators at a mass rally and candlelight vigil in Copenhagen on Saturday 12 December in support of a fair, ambitious and binding climate deal.

The small island states – the country’s most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change – outlined their proposal for a climate deal in Copenhagen today.

Soros’ proposal shows exactly the kind of ambition and urgency we need to see from rich country governments themselves. These kinds of long-term public resources are desperately needed so that poor countries can count on regular, and large payments to help them fight climate change.

Progressive businesses must continue to speak up in support of a strong climate deal in Copenhagen or risk allowing their head-in-the-sand competitors to derail the talks, cautioned Oxfam today, ahead of high-level events on the private sector’s role in tackling climate change.