{"id":787,"date":"2011-09-21T06:30:17","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T06:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/?p=787"},"modified":"2011-09-21T06:30:17","modified_gmt":"2011-09-21T06:30:17","slug":"%e2%80%9cfull-of-sound-and-fury-signifying-nothing%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/2011\/09\/%e2%80%9cfull-of-sound-and-fury-signifying-nothing%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFull of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

To Draft a Binding Agreement or not to Draft a Binding Agreement - That is the Question<\/p><\/div>\n

While studying British literature in high school, it never occurred to me that one of Shakespeare\u2019s most famous lines might one day aptly describe the outcome of international climate negotiations \u2013 and certainly not the Copenhagen meeting in which so much hope was invested. Yet alas! For, to borrow Macbeth\u2019s own words<\/a>, the non-binding Copenhagen Accord was \u201cfull of sound and fury, signifying nothing\u201d.<\/p>\n

But could a document signed by so many top government leaders and diplomats really be deserving of such a comparison? Well, let\u2019s take a look. The Accord has 5 pages<\/a> (the actual statement is only 3) to outline the agreement everyone reached. It impressively acknowledges that \u201cclimate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time\u201d and asserts that the Parties have \u201cstrong political will to urgently combat climate change\u201d (p. 1). They also reaffirm the \u201cultimate goal of the Convention\u201d to prevent dangerous interference with the climate system (a goal they set in the very first meeting way back in 1992!). Further, they stress \u201cthe need to establish a comprehensive adaptation program including international support\u201d and they agree that \u201cdeep cuts in emissions are required\u201d (p. 2). Wow, finally some incredible progress!<\/p>\n

These words certainly do make an appealing political statement. They lack, however, any substance to back them up; hence the descriptor \u201cfull of sound and fury, signifying nothing\u201d. Now I will admit that \u201cnothing\u201d is slightly too strong, as the Copenhagen Accord does have some potential \u2013 the question is if any future efforts will bother to follow through on it (so far they have not). Robert Stavins does make a fairly legitimate point<\/a> that the emergence of the Accord saved the Copenhagen negotiations from \u201cutter collapse\u201d, but I think it is hardly flattering to describe an agreement as essentially better than complete failure (wouldn\u2019t anything be?). The Accord – without any specific requirements or legally binding commitments – was basically a last-ditch effort to save face by producing something<\/em>, anything<\/em> to appease the attentive masses.<\/p>\n

Many people around the world, particularly the youth with the quality of their futures at stake on the issue of climate change, expected a better outcome \u2013 and rightly so. If the world\u2019s leaders can put political interests aside to actually enact the Accord\u2019s key points with force and accountability, then it could manifest itself with the \u201csound and fury\u201d to meaningfully combat climate change; otherwise, it will undoubtedly continue to \u201csignify nothing\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While studying British literature in high school, it never occurred to me that one of Shakespeare\u2019s most famous lines might one day aptly describe the outcome of international climate negotiations \u2013 and certainly not the Copenhagen meeting in which so much hope was invested. Yet alas! For, to borrow Macbeth\u2019s own words, the non-binding Copenhagen Accord was \u201cfull of sound and fury, signifying nothing\u201d.
\nBut could a document signed by so many top government leaders and diplomats really be deserving of such a comparison? Well, let\u2019s take a look. The Accord has 5 pages (the actual statement is only 3) to outline the agreement everyone reached. It impressively acknowledges that \u201cclimate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time\u201d and asserts that the Parties have \u201cstrong political will to urgently combat climate change\u201d (p. 1). They also reaffirm the \u201cultimate goal of the Convention\u201d to prevent dangerous interference with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":839,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19448,1],"tags":[34311,1861,34319,25668],"class_list":["post-787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change-2","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-change-negotiations","tag-cop15","tag-copenhagen-accord","tag-timothy-damon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/839"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}