What is it all about?
Environment ministers and officials met at a UN summit Copenhagen in December to thrash out a new global deal on climate change.
What was the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit?
From December 7 environment ministers and officials met in Copenhagen (opens in a new window) for the United Nations Climate Conference (opens in a new window) to thrash out a successor to the Kyoto protocol. The conference, held at the modern Bella Center, ran for two weeks. The talks were the latest in an annual series of UN meetings that trace their origins to the 1992 Earth Summit (opens in a new window) in Rio, which aimed at coordinating international action against climate change.
What does COP15 stand for?
COP15 (opens in a new window) is the official name of the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit - the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (opens in a new window) (UNFCCC). The COP is the highest body of the UNFCCC and consists of environment ministers who meet once a year to discuss developments of the convention.
Which countries took part in the Climate Change Summit, and how many people were there?
119 world leaders attended the meeting, which the UN reports was the largest gathering of heads of state and government in the history of the UN.. In addition, a large number of officials, advisers, diplomats, campaigners and journalists attended the summit.
What did the summit achieve?
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen concluded with an agreement by countries to cap global temperature rise through commitment to significant emissions reductions, and to raising finance for initiating action in the developing world to deal with climate change.
At the meeting, world leaders agreed the Copenhagen Accord (opens in a new window) which was supported by a majority of countries, which included the largest and most wealthy, and the smallest and most vulnerable.
The Copenhagen Accord recognizes the scientific view that an increase in global temperature of no more than 2 degrees is required to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
In order to achieve this goal, the accord states that industrialised countries will commit to implement, individually or jointly, quantified economy-wide emissions targets from 2020, which are to be included in the accord before 31 January 2010.
A number of developing countries, including major emerging economies, agreed to communicate their efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions every two years, including their voluntary pledges in the accord before the 31 January 2010.
Nevertheless, there remains much work to be done in coming weeks, months and years. UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said "We now have a package to work with and begin immediate action. However, we need to be clear that it is a letter of intent and is not precise about what needs to be done in legal terms. So the challenge is now to turn what we have agreed politically in Copenhagen into something real, measurable and verifiable"
The Copenhagen Accord will be reviewed in 2015 and the next annual UN Climate Change Conference will be held at the end of 2010 in Mexico City.