OPINION: Climate Wake-Up Call In Italy

The failure to reach agreement on emissions reductions targets in Italy this week was a timely reminder that in the half-year since President Barack Obama took office, world leaders have made little progress in bridging the key issues that must be resolved in order to achieve an effective climate agreement in Copenhagen.

Developing nations, led by China and India, were right in refusing to paper over the North-South divide by signing on to vague global emissions goals for 2050. Their objections - that industrial countries have failed to present convincing policies for reducing their own emissions and have not come forward with financial commitments to help developing countries cope with climate change - are valid. These are issues that cannot be resolved by mid-level negotiators, and world leaders have so far failed to hold the kind of detailed, serious, and difficult discussions that are needed.

The Copenhagen Conference is now just five months away, and unless there is progress soon on the key North-South issues, it will become impossible to close the negotiating chasm that remains. The U.S. Congress and the European Union have proposed similar emissions reduction targets for 2020 - starting from where we are today - but neither reflects the magnitude of the reductions that scientists believe are needed to stave off catastrophe. But growth in developing-country emissions must also be curbed in the decade ahead if the world is to have any chance for a "safe landing" for the climate.

Ambition and innovation are the keys to achieving a strong agreement in Copenhagen. From China to the United States, high energy prices and new policies - from new electricity laws to fuel economy standards and emergent carbon markets - have sparked unprecedented progress. The results include an exploding market for low-carbon energy technologies, the development of new agriculture and forestry practices, and a new generation of efficient buildings and transportation systems. Many of these efforts are contributing to economic development and poverty reduction as well as reducing emissions.

But they are not yet sufficient. An effective climate agreement must provide a strong foundation for speeding up the adoption of new policies and technologies-in industrial and developing countries alike. This will require stronger emissions goals, commitments to the adoption of new national policies, and a strengthened international infrastructure for delivering financial and technical assistance to developing countries.

Christopher Flavin is President of the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C.