The Copenhagen climate summit, which opened on Monday, is aimed at paving the way for a new global treaty on climate change. The most governments can hope for at the end of this two-week conference, however, is a political agreement on the outlines of a new deal. If this is achieved an attempt will be made to secure a legally-binding landmark treaty some time in 2010.

If no agreement is reached a deal in principle covering the "big picture" could be signed but this would still leave a lot of details to be negotiated over the coming months or years. The worst case scenario would be if the summit breaks down or is adjourned to a later date.

The main areas for discussion at Copenhagen include targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions, in particular by developed countries, financial support for developing countries in the fight against climate change and a carbon trading scheme aimed at ending the destruction of the world's forests by 2030.

Judging by what various leaders have been saying, however, there seems to be the political will among countries to reach a landmark deal in Copenhagen. Many observers in fact insist that it is imperative for an agreement to be in place before the 1997 Kyoto Protocol targets expire in 2012.

Connie Hedegaard, the Danish Minister for the Copenhagen summit (who has been appointed European Climate Action Commissioner) said the political will to address climate change has never been stronger. "This is our chance. If we miss it, it could take years before we got a new and better one. If ever," she said.

Ms Hedegaard also said that the outcome of the summit depended mostly "on what will be delivered by the United States and China". Indeed, these two countries are principal players in Copenhagen, together with India, the European Union, Japan, Australia and Brazil.

The summit was given a boost on Tuesday when the President Barack Obama declared that greenhouse gases are threatening to human health. This means that the US Environmental Protection Agency can order cuts in emissions without the approval of Congress.

Most countries believe that climate change poses a threat to human society and to the natural world and this is backed up by numerous successive reports about the impacts of rising temperatures.

According to the latest report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - the scientific intergovernmental body tasked with evaluating the risk of climate change caused by human activity - it is more than 90 per cent probable that humankind is largely responsible for modern-day climate change.

Furthermore, a new analysis by the World Meteorological Organisation published on Tuesday points out that a sustained global warming trend shows no signs of ending, despite recent fluctuations in global temperature year to year. According to this report the decade of the 2000s is very likely the warmest decade in the modern record, dating back 150 years.

The period from 2000 through 2009 has been "warmer than the 1990s, which were warmer than the 1980s and so on," said Michel Jarraud, the secretary general of the international weather agency, speaking at a press conference in Copenhagen.

The principal cause of global warming is burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. This produces carbon dioxide which, added to the CO2 present naturally in the Earth's atmosphere, acts as a barrier, trapping more of the sun's energy and warming the earth's surface.

As a small island state Malta stands to lose a lot from climate change such as a rise in the sea level, water shortages and very hot temperatures. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi will in fact join other world leaders in Copenhagen towards the end of the summit.

In June, the G8 and a number of large developing countries agreed that the average temperature rise since pre-industrial times should be limited to two degrees Celsius. In principle, they are looking to the Copenhagen treaty to curb the growth in greenhouse gas emissions enough to keep the world within that limit.

Malta Employers' views on climate change

The Malta Employers' Association believes that Malta still has a long way to go in countering climate change. In a position paper on climate change and energy presented to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs, the MEA said that the country's procrastination had placed Malta at a disadvantage.

"Our procrastination over the years to act, coupled with the inappropriate decisions done in the energy sector, has placed our country at a disadvantage in terms of EU targets, Kyoto targets and also on any targets that will be agreed upon in Copenhagen," it said.

The MEA said it won't comment on the new extension of the power station but the fact that the Marsa power station is still operating to date in the midst of the most densely populated area after the new power station was built in pristine countryside at Delimara "is a working monument to why we could have reason to question the decisions taken by Enemalta Corporation".

It said Malta should look at what other nations are doing and adopt the best practices in combating climate change. The MEA highlighted a recent report by Ecofys and Germanwatch in which an evaluation of countries' climate change policies was made. The two best policies, it said, came from Germany in the efficiency-in-buildings programme and their feed in tariff system.

"The German efficiency-in-buildings programme is an integrated package of building standards, subsidised loans, grants and retrofit programmes. The programme reduces emissions substantially in the short and long term plus it creates jobs in the construction industry," the MEA said.

The other policy, Germany's feed in tariff for renewable electricity, guarantees a producer of renewable electricity a fixed increased price for 20 years. "In essence the secret of the German success is that anyone generating electricity from solar PV, wind or hydro gets a guaranteed payment of four times the market rate - currently about 35 pence a unit - for 20 years."

The MEA believes that these two policies should be looked at and adopted as part of the country's strategies to control climate change. In a local perspective whereby one can sell energy generated to grid, the system used in German guaranteeing a payment of four times the market rate, ensures that the payback time for any investment is faster.

"This makes it more viable for industry to invest. Thus if Germany's feed's feed-in-tariff system had to be adopted, coupled with Malta Enterprise's ERDF energy grant scheme, we believe that more companies will invest in alternative energy," it said.

The MEA also called for a timeframe for the introduction of Liquefied Petroleum Gas as a fuel option for vehicles.

"Such vehicles along with hybrid cars can also have a significant impact on our efforts to reduce carbon emissions. We also recommend and urge that the change in public transport will also signify a change in the fuel to gas which is cleaner in all senses. Furthermore the state's fleet of vehicles should be switched to gas, along with incentives to individuals and companies wishing to convert their existing vehicles to gas," it said.

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