Greenpeace, WWF, Oxfam & Climate Action International call Doha a failure

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“Any government walking out here saying it is a success is suffering from a terrible case of cognitive dissonance. The science and the reality say we need more ambition. We have to call this a substantial failure. They have to align the political reality of these conversations with what the science says. Yes we defended a second commitment period but it is weak it doesn’t give us any joy. This failure is a betrayal of the people in the Philippines and all the other people who face climate impacts now.”

Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greenpeace

“Some developed countries have made a mockery of the negotiations by backing away from their past commitments and refusing to take on new ones. And to make matters worse, it was only a handful of countries – such as Poland, Russia, Canada, the US and Japan – who held the negotiations to ransom.”

Samantha Smith, leader of WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative

“Climate finance is not charity or foreign aid; it’s an obligation of developed countries, whose accumulated emissions have caused the climate crisis. The Doha outcome completely fails to provide clarity on how these countries will meet this obligation. Lacking concrete numbers and dates, it lets rich countries off the hook and enables them to just kick the can further down the road. Developing countries have no idea whether climate finance will go up or down, or even whether it will reliably flow in the coming years.”

Brandon Wu, Senior Policy Advisor, ActionAid

“Poor countries came to Doha facing a climate ‘fiscal cliff’, and at the end of these talks they are now left hanging by their fingertips off the edge. The US made a down payment on climate finance with its Fast Start Finance, but in Doha it was time to pay the mortgage and they did not deliver.”

Celine Charveriat, Oxfam International Director of Campaigns and Advocacy

“The path forward is actually quite clear: we have the technology and know-how to reduce dangerous carbon pollution, protect vulnerable communities, and grow sustainable, resilient, economies. But we also need people in all regions of the world to demand leadership from their governments on climate change – just like the new youth movement in the Arab region has done.”

Wael Hmaidan, director of Climate Action Network International

“The blame lies squarely with the rich industrialised world, most notably the US. The Obama administration is succeeding in its efforts to dismantle the UN global climate regime and other wealthy nations have joined in, paralyzing the climate talks and forcing the world’s poor to pay the price.”

Asad Rehman, Friends of the Earth International spokesperson in Qatar

“Young people and civil society are angry and frustrated. Climate change is not an issue of political feasibility – politicians have been using this excuse for too long. We should not allow the issue of hot air to dominate the reaction to the text. This text is a win for the USA, developed countries and fossil fuel interests, who came to the talks with a tragic lack of ambition in finance or mitigation. It’s a betrayal of all vulnerable nations, and our future.”

Sophia McNab, UK Youth Climate Coalition delegate

“However, in fact, there is no ambition increase from the Cancun and Durban emission reduction targets, or specific numbers for mid-term finance for developing countries to respond to their urgent need for climate change adaptation and loss and damage, nor on closing the ‘trust deficit’ among countries.”

Lina Li, Climate Policy Specialist of Greenovation Hub, China

“What we have on the table is extremely weak. I think it worse than people expected. We came with low expectations but this is has fallen below that. It’s indicative of the political deadlock that we have now reached.”

Hoda Baraka, Arab World Project, Greenpeace

“There were some winners here. The coal industry won here, the oil industry won here, you saw on display the power of these industries and their short term profit to influence the governments of the world. This wasn’t an environmental summit it was a trade fair to see who would share the spoils as we drill in the Arctic produce tar sand in Canada and mine coal in Indonesia for China. We need to change the mentality.”

Alden Meyer, Director of Strategy and Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists