The Copenhagen Climate Summit: High Hopes Hard Lessons and Obama's Role

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Welcome to Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage ,($25 on Amazon) a podcast dedicated to exploring the inspiring stories of individuals who have shaped the global environmental movement. 

Drawing from the book Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage, edited by Felix Dodds and Chris Spence, each episode highlights the remarkable contributions of leaders who have fought for sustainable development, protected vital ecosystems, and navigated complex political landscapes. This podcast is produced by Sustainable Society Cafe.

In this episode, we explore the story of President Obama and the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit was poised to be a groundbreaking moment in environmental diplomacy, with high hopes fueled by the urgency of scientific consensus and President Barack Obama's ambitious agenda. 

But as we’ll explore in this episode, the path to a binding climate agreement proved fraught with challenges. Drawing from Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy, we delve into the obstacles that hindered the summit, including deep divides between developed and developing nations, political gridlock, and trust issues that fractured negotiations. 

Listen as we unpack Obama’s pivotal role in pushing forward the compromise Copenhagen Accord and reflect on how, despite its limitations, the summit laid essential groundwork for the more successful Paris Agreement in 2015.

Next week, we will be on the Paris Climate Agreement and will focus on the role of Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, during the 2015 Conference.