A leading New Zealand Green MP says hope of achieving a binding climate change agreement in the next year appears to have been abandoned and the plight of small island states has been ignored.
The former Green Party co-leader, Jeanette Fitzsimons, says news leaking out from high level meetings at the Copenhagen conference suggests world leaders have abandoned hope of achieving a binding agreement either now or next year.
She says countries now seem to be focussing on a 2050 target for halving global emissions so the leaders of today do not have to take responsibility for their actions.
"It looks at the moment as though the rich countries of the world have said, well Africa can starve, the island states can go under water. We just want to keep driving our SUVs and burning coal."
Jeanette Fitzsimons says the United Nations appears to be downscaling its ambitions so it can claim the conference hasn't been a total failure.
