Copenhagen Details Decoded

After two weeks of grueling negotiations, the conference's only genuine advance was on the issue of financing to help developing countries cope with climate change. Industrialized nations indicated that they would raise $10 billion per year for three years in so-called fast-start funding and long-term funds of $100 billion per year by 2020. But again, major blanks were left to be filled in later. The document doesn't say where the annual sum of $100 billion will come from or how the money will be distributed. And on another key front--convincing China to sign on to independent monitoring of emissions cuts--there was no real progress at all. The language explaining how emissions reductions would be verified and reported is more of a linguistic contortion than a plan of action.

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