After tethering on the edge of a collapse, the United Nations Doha conference on climate change ended with an agreement, but it was an agreement of low ambitions. Avoidance of collapse is a poor measure of success and Doha revealed deep divisions on how to combat climate change, division which will surface when negotiations resume this year. In terms of progress towards real actions to tackle the climate change crisis, the Doha conference was another lost opportunity.
For 2012, the annual United Nations climate conference was in Doha and concluded on 8 December with low levels of commitments by the developed countries in two crucial areas – emission cuts and provision of climate financing for developing countries.
The Doha meetings of the 18th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – dubbed CoP-18 – can thus be described as a climate summit of “low ambition”.
