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Few People Expect Legally Binding Climate Deal
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - People in three countries hold low expectations on the future of the Copenhagen Accord on climate change, according to a poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion. Only 19 per cent of respondents in the United States, 16 per cent in Britain and 12 per cent in Canada expect the document to become a legally binding treaty.
The term global warming refers to an increase of the Earth’s average temperature. Some theories say that climate change might be the result of human-generated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In 2007, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report which states that global warming has been "very likely"—or 90 per cent certain—caused by humans burning fossil fuels.
In 1998, several countries agreed to the Kyoto Protocol, a proposed amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agreement commits nations to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
The Copenhagen Climate Change Summit took place from Dec. 7 to Dec. 18, 2009. Countries attending the summit were supposed to draft a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which is due to expire in 2012.
The final version of the Copenhagen Accord—which is not legally binding—includes pledges by signatories to hold the increase in global temperatures below two degrees Celsius, create a fund to help poor nations adapt to climate change that will grow to $100 billion U.S. annually by 2020, and aim to reduce worldwide emissions by 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.
On Dec. 18, U.S. president Barack Obama discussed the importance of the deal, saying, "It is still going to require more work and more confidence-building and greater trust between emerging countries, the least developed countries, and the developed countries before I think you are going to see another legally binding treaty signed. I actually think that it’s necessary for us ultimately to get to such a treaty, and I am supportive of such efforts. But this is a classic example of a situation where if we just waited for that, then we would not make any progress."
Polling Data
Do you think the Copenhagen Accord will become a legally binding treaty in the future?
|
USA |
CAN |
BRI |
|
|
Yes |
19% |
12% |
16% |
|
No |
37% |
44% |
43% |
|
Not sure |
44% |
43% |
41% |
Source: Angus Reid Public Opinion
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,005 American adults, 1,013 Canadian adults, and 2,002 British adults, conducted from Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, 2009. Margins of error range from 2.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent.
