$200bn - The Price of Success in Copenhagen

$200bn could mean the
difference between success and failure in Copenhagen said Oxfam
International as the UN climate summit in the city today. TheSummit
marks the culmination of two years of international negotiations on a
deal to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Rich countries could set off a chain reaction that leads to success
in Copenhagen if they put forward at least $200bn per year in new
public funds to help poor countries reduce their emissions and adapt to
a changing climate.

Big developing countries such as China have signalled that they are
willing to increase - and formalize -already significant pledges to
reduce emissions if rich countries provide the necessary support. This,
in turn, could help rich country leaders overcome domestic barriers to
more ambitious targets. And it could secure the support of the world's
poorest countries that need help to adapt to a rapidly changing climate.

President Obama has already set the wheels in motion by agreeing to
join other world leaders on 18 December and by announcing that the US
is ready to pay its fair share towards the 'fast start' fund. Rich
countries have said they are willing to put forward $10bn a year
between 2010 and 2013 to help vulnerable countries tackle climate
change.

The European Union must now build on the US move by putting forward its
share of the $200bn a year needed in the long term - and pushing for
the US to do the same. In October the EU said that a global fund worth
up to Euro 50bn ($74bn) per year is needed to help poor countries
tackle climate change but stopped short of saying how much it will
contribute.

Oxfam also warned that climate finance must be new. Many rich countries
still plan to use money from existing aid commitments to meet their
climate obligations.

Antonio Hill, Senior climate change advisor for Oxfam International said:

"The price of success in Copenhagen is $200bn. $200bn could trigger off
a chain reaction that delivers more ambitious emissions reductions and
helps the world's poorest people adapt to a changing climate. We need
to see this figure sparkling overhead in Christmas lights by the end of
the Summit. Its peanuts compared to the $8.4 trillion we found to save
drowning banks."

"Rich countries are mistaken if they think that less than a half of the
emissions cuts demanded by the science and $10bn in re-packaged aid
promises can be spun as a success in two weeks time. It underestimates
the real needs of billions of poor people and overestimates the
patience of poor countries who have clearly signalled their preference
for no deal over green wash."

Shorbanu Khatun, a mother of four from Bangladesh who lost her home
when cyclone Aila hit in May 2009 and who is in Copenhagen to raise
awareness of the impact of climate change on her community said:

"For about last five years, everything seems to have changed. It is too
hot and there is a severe scarcity of rain. There are less fish in the
river and skin diseases, headache and diarrhoea have become regular
phenomena. I have heard in a village gathering these are manmade
disasters. I want to live. I want justice to my life and livelihoods;
to my children lives and livelihoods."

Read more

Take The Climate Challenge - Oxfam's new interactive climate gameshow

Read the report: People-Centered Resilience: Working with vulnerable farmers towards climate change adaptation and food security

Join our petition to help stop climate change.

Blog:What do 1.5 million voices sound like?