of a fair and effective international framework in which all major economies participate and on agreement by those economies on ambitious targets. Further, in the Japan-U.S. Joint Message on Climate Change Negotiations issued by the Japanese and U.S. leaders, the two countries said they “aspire to reduce our own emissions by 80% by 2050 and endorse a global goal of reducing emissions by 50% by that year.”

## 2 Achievements of COP15 and Remaining Problems

Regarding reductions of greenhouse gas emissions after the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, Japan took the initiative toward COP15 through setting ambitious reduction targets in pursuit of the establishment of a fair and effective international framework in which all major economies participate and agreement on ambitious targets by all the major economies, and announcing its scaled-up support for developing countries under the “Hatoyama Initiative.” Japan participated in negotiations on political agreement at COP15 in pursuit of agreement on a fair and effective framework in which major economies, including the United States and China, participate, and strove to pave the ground for assistance to developing countries in such areas as adaptation and capacity-building.

In negotiations at COP15 and the Fifth Session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP5), etc. held in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 7-19, 2009, as a result of consultations and negotiations at the leader level of nearly 30 countries and organizations from the night of December 17 and late night of December 18, following ad hoc working group discussions by negotiators in the first half of the session and ministerial-level consultations, the Copenhagen Accord was developed, and it was decided at a plenary meeting the following day that "the Conference of the Parties takes note of the Copenhagen Accord." It was also decided that the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), which was due to disband at the end of 2009, will continue its work, along with the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP).

The process in the COP15 negotiations is as follows. In the first half of the negotiations, the AWG-KP chairman proposed that the Annexes to the Kyoto Protocol be revised to set the next set of reduction targets for developed countries. Many developing countries that call for the revision of the Annexes welcomed the chairman's proposal, but developed countries opposed to the chairman's proposal, arguing that the Kyoto Protocol alone is not sufficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally and that a comprehensive and effective legal framework should be established to cover a developed country that has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol (the United States) and developing countries with no reduction obligations under the Kyoto Protocol (such as China and India).

The AWG-LCA chairman also presented another proposal, which drew the line among developed countries between the United States and the parties to the Kyoto Protocol. Later, when the COP chairman stated that she wanted to bring the discussions forward by presenting a new document based on the reports from the two ad hoc working groups, major developing countries such as China, India and Brazil rejected the idea, asserting that negotiations should be conducted on the basis of the reports from the two AWGs. Developed countries requested a meeting among a few countries and the presentation of a new proposal by Denmark, the COP host country, but developing countries continued to insist on the discussions on the basis of the proposals from the chairmen of the AWG-LCA and AWG-KP. Both sides remained as far apart as ever, threatening to jeopardize any progress in the negotiations.

Representing Japan, Prime Minister Hatoyama and Minister of the Environment Sakihito Ozawa again explained that Japan aims to reduce its emissions by 25% by 2020, if compared to the 1990 level, which is premised on the establishment of a fair and effective international framework in which all major economies participate and on agreement by those economies on ambitious targets, and announced the "Hatoyama Initiative", which provides financial assistance of approximately ¥1.75 trillion (about $15 billion), of which public finance comprises approximately ¥1.30 trillion (about $11 billion), giving an impetus to the progress in the negotiations in the negotiations in order to support a broad range of developing countries which are taking measures of mitigation, as well as those which are vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change.

Amid these moves, a leader-level meeting among a small number of countries was held after a leaders' banquet at the night of December 17. The leaders from nearly 30 countries and organizations, took part in the meeting, including Prime Minister Hatoyama, U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy as well as the leaders of China, India, Brazil, South Africa and representatives from developing regions, such as Alliance of Small Island States and African Group. Late at night on December 18, these countries hammered out the “Copenhagen Accord.”

When the Copenhagen Accord was presented to the COP plenary session early on December 19, many countries, including developed countries, Alliance of Small Island States and least developed countries, endorsed the accord and sought the adoption on it, but a few countries opposed the adoption on the grounds that the preparation process of preparing the accord was not transparent. Ultimately, it was decided that the Conference of the Parties “takes note of the Copenhagen Accord.”

The gist of the Copenhagen Accord is as follows:

(i) Recognize the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be below 2 degrees Celsius, and enhance long-term cooperative action to combat climate change;