What really went on at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference? Was it a 'fiasco' or a positive step forward? Those are some of the questions to be addressed by a panel of experts tomorrow at The Australian National University.

The panel discussion - Post Copenhagen: Where do we go now? - will bring together people who experienced the COP15 discussions first hand. They will attempt to shed light on what really happened at the negotiations, what the failure to reach a binding agreement means and what comes next.

The discussion includes Associate Professor Janette Lindesay of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at ANU, Dr Peter Wood of the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program and ANU students Jonathan Pickering, Phoebe Howe and Alexei Trundle. The discussion will be moderated by Executive Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute, Professor Will Steffen.

Professor Steffen said although the Copenhagen discussions had been seen as a failure by many, there were still reasons to be optimistic about future negotiations.

"Although the Copenhagen Accord did not go as far as many would like it, it represents a significant progress towards an international agreement," said Professor Steffen. "The Accord continued to draw on climate change science as underpinning foundation of efforts to stabilise the climate. In particular, the agreement that the rise in global temperature should be limited to two degrees or less is based on a massive body of research on human interference with the climate system."

The lunchtime discussion will be streamed live at www.livestream.com/anuchannel with an online chat room allowing for viewer interaction and discussion.

Source: The Australian National University http://news.anu.edu.au?p=1964