Publication

The original purpose of the conference in Copenhagen (COP 15) had been to complete negotiations on a new international agreement on climate change to come into force when the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period came to an end in 2012. In the last two years, however, climate change has assumed such importance on the global agenda that an unprecedented number of heads of governments – almost 120 – decided to meet in Copenhagen to provide political leadership and give the final push for a global climate change agreement, hoping thereby to lay the foundations for the new 'global climate change order'.