US spied on UN climate summit, Snowden leaks show | EurActiv

US spied on UN climate summit, Snowden leaks show | EurActiv

EU commissioners and experts expressed
bewilderment after "worrying" revelations on Thursday (30 January) that
the US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on heads of state during the
UN climate summit in Copenhagen in late 2009.

According to documents leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, and published by the Danish newspaper Information,
the agency collected intelligence about other countries’ positions
before and during the Copenhagen negotiations, which failed to reach a
binding agreement.

The goal at the UN climate summit, known as COP15, had been to pen a
global agreement on CO2 emissions reduction, that could replace the
Kyoto Protocol. This was designed to slow global warming which a
scientific consensus holds will have disastrous consequences for life on
earth, if unabated.

Some called the summit "the most important of its kind since the end
of World War II" because more than a hundred government leaders
participated. Never before had so many heads of state been gathered at a
UN event.

But the leaked documents show that the US felt under pressure because
of its role as the largest historic emitter of carbon dioxide. The
NSA's focus in relation to climate change thus mutated into spying on
other countries to collect intelligence supporting US interests, rather
than preventing future climate catastrophes, the documents show.

While many countries formulated promises that were increasingly
ambitious, the Obama administration never moderated its position. The
Americans only offered a 4-6% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to
1990 levels, despite the fact that the UN recommendation for developed
nations was 25-40%. As the agreement ended up allowing individual
climate pledges, the 4-6% reduction became the American climate goal.

According to Information, it's almost certain that the Americans obtained a Danish draft proposal,
sparking outrage among some countries, ahead of the conference. This
was eventually leaked to the news agency Reuters and the British
newspaper the Guardian.