What's Copenhagen all about? 
Through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, countries around the world have acknowledged the risks from climate change and rich nations have agreed to modest reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions by 2008-12. More ...
The UN Copenhagen Summit is all about what happens beyond 2012 and crucially to negotiate emission reductions for bith developed and developing countries. It is vital that worldwide emission reductions are agreed in Copenhagen to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
The science is clear - climate change is real
The science is clear: the climate is warming and climate change is set to get worse unless we take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
While there is uncertainty, it's clear that further warming of as little as two degrees Celsius would mean very serious impacts around the world. There could be hundreds of millions of people at risk of water shortage, millions at risk from coastal flooding, reduced crop yields in developing countries and more than a third of the world's wildlife at increased risk of extinction.
Learn more about the scientific facts about climate change .. Avoiding the most serious impacts
The world can only prevent the most serious impacts by reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. To have a reasonable chance of keeping further warming below two degrees Celsius, for example, we would need cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions of .......................
The longer we wait to take action to reduce emissions, the more drastic the reductions need to be.
So the Poznan discussions need to include some tough emission reduction targets and the rich countries of the world need to lead the way if the developing nations are to come on board.
But we can't avoid climate change altogether
Another key message from the science is that we can't avoid climate change altogether. The world's response needs to be a combination of adaptation (coping with climate change) and mitigation (actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions).
Adaptation to climate change is as vital as mitigation
Adaptation .......................
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