Copenhagen, One Step Back…
Copenhagen Day 1…
The opening ceremony kick-off movie
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Opening remarks, and some highlights of day one…
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“Climategate” skeptics made some noise….
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The make or break issue is clearly “burden sharing“. When sovereignty and the needs of survival find themselves up against it, and facing complications of long term responsibility, who would settle for an artificially created economic caste system. The need to retain sovereignty, and the finances to harmonize all morally must be respected and provided.
Among the more than 15,000 accredited and 20,000 civil participants in Copenhagen to be part of the negotiations of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol are Environment Ministers, activists, heads of state, functionaries, and scientists .
Copenhagen Day 2…
Some highlights from day two of the conference…
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The question of responsibility for climate change among the G77 is paramount.
Disarray over a leaked proposal by Denmark would have the World Bank in charge of climate funds, hand over more power to rich nations, weaken the UN’s role and abandon the binding agreements of the Kyoto protocol.
Developing countries interpret the proposal document to set unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions.
Drafted by “the circle of commitment” including the UK, US, and Denmark the proposal has been shown to a handful of countries.
The document relieves rich nations from their commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, and talks of a range of concomitant actions for poorer developing nations, to qualify for climate change financial assistance.
The document is seen as very dangerous by one diplomat who describes it as “a very dangerous document for developing countries. It is a fundamental reworking of the UN balance of obligations. It is to be superimposed without discussion on the talks”.
THE AFTER DEAL…
Not part of the original deal developing countries would be forced to agree to specific emission cuts. Listing some countries in a new category “the most vulnerable”. lt further divides poor developing countries. Climate finance will be less a UN concern and be administrated by the World Bank. A final untenable outrage, poorer countries can not emit more than 1.44 tones of carbon per person by 2050. The rich 2.67 tones per person. A good beginning for a climate caste system.
It’s interesting how wealth can make some feel “god like”…
One diplomat said to want to remain nameless claims the documents introduction is the end of the UN process.
Climate policy adviser Antonio Hill, for Oxfam International, said: “This is only a draft but it highlights the risk that when the big countries come together, the small ones get hurting. On every count the emission cuts need to be scaled up. It allows too many loopholes and does not suggest anything like the 40% cuts that science is saying is needed. It proposes a green fund to be run by a board but the big risk is that it will run by the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility [a partnership of 10 agencies including the World Bank and the UN Environment Program] and not the UN. That would be a step backwards, and it tries to put constraints on developing countries when none were negotiated in earlier UN climate talks.”
Considered inflammatory by sidelining the UN and proposing a new separate working framework for rich countries as yet it’s sketchy at best. When considering the equality of human rights, a clear cause for concern. The concept of “climate induced slavery” comes to mind.
More than the 15,000 participants to the conference, a number closer to 35,000 participants has arrived in Copenhagen to participate in many ways.
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Developed nations were criticized for not living up to their historic climate debt. Complaints of lack of transparency were heard. “Climatgate” got blamed on a Russian hacker who informed the Russian Secret Service of his stolen material. Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, the vice chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, said theory is Russia would like to see talks fail, wanting global warming to facilitate exploration and development of it’s far north.
Copenhagen Day 3
The Danish Text…
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Business of the day for Kenya and other developing countries…
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Battle lines drawn…
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Questions of the day included responsibility for CO2 emissions, who should pay, how much technology and know-how should be transferred to poorer nations, and is forest protection a viable solution.
Britain, Australia, Mexico, and Norway presented a fund raising proposal for the billions needed to mitigate and adapt to the emerging climate condition. Australia spoke in favor of the 10 billion a year green fund to help poor vulnerable countries. Because of internal strife it’s not quite clear yet where India stands in the negotiations. Britain attacks the “climategate” faction with substantive proof that the first decade of the new millennium is on average the warmest in 160 years.
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On a brighter note, the U.S. Environmental Agency’s decided to label CO2 as unhealthy. Presidential powers can now set binding CO2 goals regardless of other levels of government.
Copenhagen Day 4
Kenya’s works at reaching a single minded position…
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Suspension of negotiations…
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After a highly unusual split within the developing countries assembled, the island state of Tuvalu asked for and got a suspension of climate negotiations to resolve issues behind the scene on Wednesday.
AOSIS Proposal for KP Survival and New en Protocol – Final
Developing countries are split on demands and ask for protocols tougher than Kyoto. Richer nations are opposed to the idea. Developing countries argue for an extension of the Kyoto Protocols to run concurrent with a new tougher legally binding protocol.
China, India, and South Africa felt it would retard their economic growth.
With support from members of AOSIS (Association of Small Island States) Tuvalu called for a “Contact Group” and has been blocked. The conference will not proceed until all parties resolve how to proceed.
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Copenhagen Day 5…
Highlights, EU commits 2.4 billion Euros…
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Climate in turmoil…
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African delegates threaten walkout…
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Copenhagen Day 6…
Highlights and First Official Draft of the Proposed Climate Deal…
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Copenhagen Day 7…
We are confronted by Winter cold, A lot of discord within the Bella Center, and protests, arrests, and cries for climate justice from the people outside the Bella Center.
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Copenhagen Day 8…
Day 8, Highlights Report Alarming Update on Melting Ice…
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Copenhagen Day 9…
Highlights, I’ll Be Back…
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Connie Hedegaard resigns as president of the Copenhagen climate summit.
Copenhagen Day 10…
Difficult Negotiations in Copenhagen…
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Many Christians remember growing up with a Papal edict to eat fish on Friday. It’s now being suggested by some that we abstain from meat one or more days a week to reduce the methane pollution from meat production, now indicated to be a more serious problem than fossil fuel consumption by all modes of transport.
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So how is it going?…
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Global leaders arriving to sign the climate deal now find they have to shift thinking globally rather than nationally in efforts to salvage agreement.
Copenhagen Day 11…
Heads Of State Arrive To Save The Climate
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Copenhagen, The Final Day
The diplomatic words spoken in these huge plenary sessions and behind the closed doors will determine the survival of entire nations and environments on which many more depend. Will this be man’s noblest and finest hour?
Time is running out in Copenhagen…
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Time is running out continued…
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Many delegates worked into the small hours of the morning to resolve their dead locks. Confidential UN analysis shows that current offers on the table are agreed, global temperatures will rise on average by 3C.
early morning; a German Negotiator “There is still no text for the heads of state to negotiate,” the official told Reuters. “There are no results on anything. We have only several drafts. It’s very, very difficult. Time is running out.” Swedish environment minister Andreas Carlgren “It is now up to world leaders to decide.” Chinese delegate, Li Junhua “It’s a political statement, but it isn’t a lot.” Sudan’s Lumumba Di-Aping, stated the current draft being discussed is “weak”. He added: “There’s nothing ambitious in this text.”
Mid- morning
Senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, says Obama has ripped up his schedule to try and broker a deal, tweeting that Obama is in negotiations with Australia, UK, Brazil, France, Denmark, Germany, EU, Japan, Bangladesh,Russia, South Africa, India, Mexico, Spain, South Korea, Norway, Colombia, and Ethiopia (representing China).
Filling in for Obama Danish prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, “Today doesn’t mark the end or our work, but the beginning.”
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, “The finishing line is sight, our discussions are bearing fruit.”
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, “China takes climate change very seriously.” “Our target [for cuts] will be included in our long-term plans.” A promise from Wen, “China will honour its voluntary climate commitments with real action.”
Late morning
Activists outside shave their heads littering the entrance way with hair in protest of the slow call to action from the delegates.
Obama from the floor, “This is not fiction it is science. Unchecked climate change will pose unacceptable risk to security, economy and planet,” “Our ability to take collective action is in doubt.” “We’re running out of time.” “We will do what we say, now its time for the nations of the world to come to a common purpose.” “Our ability to take collective action is in the balance.”
Early Afternoon
Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth, ” The President is right that the endeavours in Copenhagen will go down in history – but unless we see a massive shift in the US position, it will be for all the wrong reasons. If the President’s idea of action is to cut US emissions by 4% on 1990 levels then we’re heading for climate catastrophe. Barack Obama should have taken the opportunity to up his proposed cuts to at least 40% by 2020 and ditch carbon offsetting. Obama has deeply disappointed not just those listening to his speech at the UN talks – he has disappointed the whole world.”
Greenpeace US’s executive director Phil Radford, “The world was waiting for the spirit of yes we can, but all we got was my way or the highway. He [Obama] crossed an ocean to tell the world he has nothing new to offer, then he said take it or leave it. By offering no movement on US global warming pollution cuts he showed his disregard for the science and the victims of climate change in the United States and abroad. He now risks being branded as the man who killed Copenhagen. He said all parties must move, but he offered no movement. He said the decades long split between the rich world and poor needs to end, but his vision of a deal here would give us a 3C temperature rise and devastate Africa and the small island states.”
ActionAid’s climate expert, Raman Mehta, “Obama has said nothing to save the Copenhagen conference from failure. The US is the one major player yet to move. Developing countries have come here to negotiate in good faith but feel they have been cheated and it looks like they will leave empty handed.
The UN has reportedly advised negotiators to extend their stays until Sunday night.
John Vidal referring to the draft text, “Their initial reaction was that it was not only weak on figures and targets, but that it could lead to the collapse of the Kyoto treaty, the only global legal instrument requiring rich countries to cut emissions.”
Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela won’t support the deal currently being “cooked up”. Chávez leaving in protest at the failure of the talks. “We can’t wait any longer, we are leaving. We will reject any document that Obama tries to slip under the door.”
French president Nicolas Sarkozy, “The discussions lasted all night without interruption. The good news is that they’re continuing, the bad news is they haven’t reached a conclusion.”
China’s Wen Jiabao, “We will honour our words with real action. We commit to meet and even exceed our target.”
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Mid-afternoon
It’s official says European Union environment commissioner Stavros Dima, “The secretary-general of the UN has asked people not to leave tonight.” “I cannot imagine 120 leaders going back to their countries with empty hands. Everyone expressed commitment to fight climate change. OK, do it.”
Talk of a new draft to be called the “Copenhagen Accord” emerges. It drops any reference to a deadline of the end of 2010 for a legally binding treaty.
climate campaigner Joss Garman, “This latest draft is so weak as to be meaningless. It’s more like a G8 communique than the legally binding agreement we need. It doesn’t even include a time line to give it legal standing or an explicit temperature target. It’s hard to imagine our leaders will try to present this document to the world and keep a straight face.”
A Third Draft
reinstates targets omitted from earlier ones. It says rich countries should reduce their greenhouse emissions by at least 80% by the year 2050. It adds that developing countries’ emissions should be 15-30% below “business as usual”.
Watch the proceedings live from The Bella Center Copenhagen
How will the “Gordian Knot” be resolved to the satisfaction of all.
Fast, Clean, & Cheap Cutting Glo –
The future fortune of nations hangs in the balance of their actions today. Nothing less than compassion and fair treatment for all is acceptable. Only open dialoge and democratic acceptance can be tolerated.
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