Five things Wikileaks taught us about climate talks

As Julian Assange prepares to leave his hideaway, we recall the top Wikileaks releases on climate change

Julian Assange was behind a mass release of diplomatic messages (Pic: Wikimedia Commons/Espen Moe)

By Megan Darby

Julian Assange plans to leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London soon, he said at a press conference on Monday.

The Wikileaks founder has spent two years holed up in the embassy, trying to find a diplomatic solution to his tangle of legal problems.

Assange faces an arrest warrant for sexual assault charges in Sweden. He denies the allegations and has expressed fears that if he goes to Sweden, he will be extradited to the US over his leadership of Wikileaks.

That mass leak of diplomatic documents yielded some interesting information. But it angered governments around the world who wanted to keep their messages secret and said releasing such sensitive information could harm national security.

As speculation swirls around Assanges next steps, here are five things Wikileaks taught us about the failed 2009 Copenhagen climate talks.

1 France argued against a legally binding international treaty.

French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told the Ambassador that the key to advancing climate negotiations is to drop the notion of a legally binding treaty in favour of a system of national commitments. He also argued that it would be up to a small group of eight or ten heads of state, and their sherpas, to negotiate implementation of the Copenhagen Accord. US Embassy in Paris, 17 February 2010

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Five things Wikileaks taught us about climate talks