Climate Change

After bringing the Copenhagen climate talks to a standstill for a week by resisting international verification, claimed to be an affront to national sovereignty, China finally joined four other major nations (US, India, Brazil and South Africa) to an accord that sets a goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2050. The accord, which was not a legally binding treaty and sets no goal for concluding a binding international treaty, was later presented to other participants in the summit who grudgingly "take note" of the agreement. The accord was only reached after China inexplicably sent two lower-level officials to meet with US President Barack Obama, prompting Obama to break into a meeting of Premier Wen Jiabo and the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa, which led to the conclusion of the agreement.