Greenbang » Copenhagen Countdown

COP15 Day 12: Outcome so far is ‘vague, ‘inadequate,’ ‘shame’

Greenbang — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:49:37 +0000

Editor’s note: Greenbang will be providing daily dispatches and ongoing updates from the climate change talks in Copenhagen, and is covering the conference virtually to keep our carbon footprint low.

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

Climate Interactive says the latest draft text for the Copenhagen Accord, offered late in the night, has “too few quantifiable targets for our team to adequately analyse it.” The result is that Climate Interactive’s Climate Scoreboard — the projected level of warming based on nations’ existing policies — remains unchanged at 3.9 degrees C of warming by 2100, far beyond the 2 degrees C considered to be the threshold for catastrophic climate change. The draft also has the G77 bloc of developing nations “crying murder,” according to New Scientist, with the charge that “this locks developing nations & the poor of developing nations in poverty for ever.”
The responses coming in from other delegates in the early morning hours include: “Our future is not for sale” (Tuvalu), “You toss the paper on the table and walk away… coup d’etat on un process” (Venezuela) and “Not respectful of democratic mechanisms that exist” (Bolivia).
Speaking in Copenhagen today, US President Barack Obama said, “After months of talk, and two weeks of negotiations, I believe that the pieces of that accord are now clear. First, all major economies must put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions, and begin to turn the corner on climate change. I’m pleased that many of us have already done so, and I’m confident that America will fulfill the commitments that we have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 per cent by 2020, and by more than 80 per cent by 2050 in line with final legislation. Second, we must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and to exchange this information in a transparent manner. These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and that we are living up to our obligations. For without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page. Third, we must have financing that helps developing countries adapt, particularly the least-developed and most vulnerable to climate change. America will be a part of fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion in 2012. And, yesterday, Secretary Clinton made it clear that we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100 billion in financing by 2020, if — and only if — it is part of the broader accord that I have just described.”
350.org’s latest take on the talks as they stand at the moment: “Needed: 350 ppm. Negotiated: 770 ppm. Diagnosis: Inadequate.”

COP15 Day 11: Leak says proposals mean 3 C of warming

Greenbang — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:28:58 +0000

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

350.org reports breaking news that a leaked UN document acknowledges that the commitments currently being made at the climate conference commit the planet to a temperature rise of at least 3 degrees C.
Hobbled negotiations got back on track today as delegates agreed to pursue two-track talks that address continuation of the Kyoto Protocol as well as a new global climate treaty. Developing nations had urged continued application of the Kyoto treaty, while wealthy countries appeared to be ready to let the previous climate pact die.
Speaking in Copenhagen today, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, “Scientific truths know no boundaries of ideology or politics … And I say to this conference: informed by science, moved by conscience, inspired by common purpose we, the leaders of this fragile world, must affirm: we will not condemn millions to injustice without remedy, to sorrow without hope, to deprivation without end.”
350.org reports on Twitter that drafting groups are “working in2 the night 2 complete text” for COP15 tomorrow.
China has rejected US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s call that it incorporate its stated pledge to reduce carbon intensity into the Copenhagen deal. Without that commitment, Clinton said, the US would not provide funds to help developing countries deal with climate change.
Monsanto has won the Angry Mermaid’s award for worst corporate climate lobbyist in Copenhagen. The agricultural giant was nominated, awards organisers said, for “promoting its genetically modified (GM) crops as a solution to climate change and pushing for its crops to be used as biofuels. The expansion of GM soy in Latin America is contributing to major deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions.” Shell earned second place while third place went to the American Petroleum Institute.

COP15 Day 10: ‘Prove us wrong or stand down,’ Kerry says

Greenbang — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:14:36 +0000

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

The US and five other nations — the UK, France, Norway, Japan and Australia — are pledging $3.5 billion over the next three years to protect rainforests in developing countries.
Speaking to delegates in Copenhagen today, US Sen. John Kerry said, “Frankly, those who look for any excuse to continue challenging the science have a fundamental responsibility which they have never fulfilled: Prove us wrong or stand down. Prove that the pollution we put in the atmosphere is not having the harmful effect we know it is. Tell us where the gases go and what they do. Pony up one single, cogent, legitimate, scholarly analysis. Prove that the ocean isn’t actually rising; prove that the ice caps aren’t melting, that deserts aren’t expanding. And prove that human beings have nothing to do with any of it. And by the way — good luck!”
UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said talks today came to an “unexpected stop” as negotiators said they needed more time to address “a number of unsolved issues.”
Some 30 young people staged a sit-in at the climate talks to call attention to the 11 million people who have signed TckTckTck’s petition for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty on global warming. Sen. Kerry reportedly shook each protester’s hand and thanked each one even as security people were coming in to drag the demonstrators away.
Meanwhile, in Canada, protestors also occupied a local office of Prime Minister Steven Harper to demand that he take action on climate change or resign.
The head of the Convention on Biological Diversity told Reuters that the goal of limiting global warming to no more than 2 degrees C will “lead to the disappearance of 20 per cent of known species.”
350.org today apparently tried to hand out one of its “350″ ties to Bolivian President Evo Morales “but he doesn’t wear ties because they’re too capitalist.”

COP15 Day 9: A ‘better day than yesterday’

Greenbang — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:27:30 +0000

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

Speaking at the summit today, Prince Charles noted the gathering is taking place at an “historic moment,” and concluded, “Just as mankind had the power to push the world to the brink so, too, do we have the power to bring it back into balance. You have been called to positions of responsibility at this critical time. The eyes of the world are upon you and it is no understatement to say that, with your signatures, you can write our future … One final thought … As our planet’s life-support system begins to fail and our very survival as a species is brought into question, remember that our children and grandchildren will ask not what our generation said, but what it did. Let us give an answer, then, of which we can be proud.”
Delegates today indicated they had made progress on efforts to protect forests and reduce deforestation; however, activists are criticising the draft for not including legally binding measures to also protect indigenous people who live in tropical forest regions.
Climate blog “It’s Getting Hot in Here” is reporting on alleged backroom dealing involving France, the US and Ethiopia aimed at limited global temperature increases to no more than 2 degrees C — a level projected to lead to 3 to 4 degrees C warming in Africa.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke in Copenhagen today and said that entrepreneurs, scientists and “ordinary folks” — rather than governments — will lead the way in addressing climate change.
South Korea is the first developing nation to pledge to make an absolute, rather than relative, cut in its carbon dioxide emissions; it’s proposing to reduce emissions by 4 per cent by 2020, relative to 2005 levels.
Commenting on today’s activities, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said, “It’s been a better day than yesterday. The process the Danes got under way yesterday has led to positive atmospherics. We’ve narrowed down the differences before leaders arrive … But this remains a tough task, it’s very complex, and there’s a small amount of time left … We’re not here for the lowest common denominator, we’re working for high ambition.”
Noting that people in small island nations and parts of Africa are already suffering from the effects of climate change, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai urged leaders not to approve any agreement that isn’t inclusive or transparently negotiated.
Pope Benedict XVI today said wealthy nations need to be ready to live “more sober lifestyles” to address the moral crises created by climate change’s impact on food security, desertification and development.
The European Environment Agency, European Space Agency and UN Environment Programme today released its new “Environmental Atlas of Europe,” a series of short films that uses satellite images to depict environmental changes and also shows how people are responding to these changes. The changes affect everything from ship ice roads in the Baltic Sea and river systems in Albania to plankton blooms off the Irish coast and the reduction of agricultural land in south-east Georgia.
350.org is reporting that its “350″ ties are being “snapped up like crazy” by delegates, including the minister from Sierra Leone, at COP15.
By the end of the 21st century, warmer growing seasons and milder winters could increase the population and geographic range of the corn earworm, an insect that preys on corn, tomatoes and other cash crops in the US, researchers at Stanford University have found. Their models also indicate that global warming could reduce the current US wine grape region by 81 per cent by the end of the century, primarily because of a projected sharp increase in the frequency of extremely hot days where the temperature reaches 30 Celsius or above.
Climate geoengineering could help maintain the Greenland ice sheet by reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches the Earth’s surface, which in turn would cool the climate despite rising CO2 levels, scientists at the University of Bristol say. “Climate geoengineering could be an emergency response if dangerous melting of the Greenland ice sheet begins, or other climate emergencies occur, but it is no substitute for reductions in the emission of CO2,” said Pete Irvine, lead author of the study.
New figures from the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration indicate that, under current policies, the US would still be dependent upon fossil fuels for 78 per cent of its energy needs by 2035. Assuming no changes in existing policies, the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions would also rise from 5,814 million metric tonness in 2008 to 6,320 million metric tonnes in 2035.

COP15 Day 8: African walkout over Kyoto briefly halts talks

Greenbang — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:31:50 +0000

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

Protest by delegates from African nations led to a walkout and temporary suspension of talks today; the dispute centered on their call for a continued commitment to the Kyoto Protocol before a new treaty is hammered out. “We support African countries’ demands for Kyoto targets and mandatory emissions reductions for rich countries,” said Friends of the Earth International’s Nnimmo Bassey. “We denounce the dirty negotiating tactics of rich countries which are trying to change the rules and tilt them in their own favor. Developed countries are stalling these negotiations as Africa attempts to move them forward.” Discussions have since resumed.
Mohamed Nasheed, president of the Maldives, has arrived in Copenhagen and plans to address a crowd of more than 1,000 people at 19:00 local time. Earlier this year, Nasheed led an underwater cabinet meeting to highlight the threat to his low-lying island nation from climate change and rising seas. “I have three words to say to the doubters and deniers,” state Nasheed’s prepared remarks for the evening. “Three words with which to win this battle. Just three words are all I need. You may already have heard them. Three – Five – Oh.”
As the second week of talks get under way, Climate Interactive’s Climate Scoreboard indicates discussions so far have actually worsened, rather than improved, the global outlook for temperature rise. By making its proposal for emissions reductions conditional on other countries’ actions, Japan caused the scoreboard to move up to a likely temperature rise of 3.9°C (7.0°F) by 2100.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP estimates that, based on current emissions reduction pledges, the world will “overspend its carbon budget by 50 GtC02e (gigatonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalend) by 2020. That overspend would be equivalent to an entire year of global emissions.”
New research from the British Environment Agency warns that rising temperatures could “spell disaster” for native wildlife. “(F)ish, invertebrates and other water species will be the first to feel the devastating effects of climate change as river temperatures rise, and more frequent flooding and drought change traditional river habitats,” the agency said.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Copenhagen and other cities over the weekend to urge world leaders to reach a real and meaningful deal on climate change. Police arrested more than 1,200 people during the Copenhagen demonstration, though many of those detained have since been released.
The weekend also saw church bells around the globe being rung 350 times to recognise the 350-parts-per-million carbon dioxide target activists say is vital for preventing catastrophic climate change. Current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration stand at 390 parts per million — the highest they’ve been in 15 million years, according to the latest research.
For a moving account of the main climate-focused church service held Sunday in Copenhagen, read Bill McKibben’s, “I went to church and cried. Then I got back to work.” The service began with a procession down the aisle in which dozens of chorus members carried to the altar dead pieces of bleached coral, stones uncovered by retreating glaciers and shrunken ears of corn grown in drought-ravaged parts of Africa.

COP15 Day 5: Island nations stand tall, ice bear starts to melt

Greenbang — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:36:42 +0000

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

The Alliance of Small Island Nations today proposed a legally binding climate deal that both extends the Kyoto Protocol and sets a carbon emissions reduction goal of 85 per cent by 2050.
The first official draft from a key working group, on the other hand, leaves unagreed the total emissions cuts that should be made by mid-century; the six-page document offers, in brackets, possible 2050 targets of 50, 80 and 95 per cent reductions compared to 1990 levels.
The EU on late Thursday pledged to invest €7.2 billion over the next three years to support the UN’s climate change efforts. That amount, which is about one-third of what the UN expects to need, was welcomed by UN climate chief Yvo de Boer as “hugely encouraging.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he will work with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on an agreement to cut deforestation by 25 per cent over five years. He noted the proposal is both “doable” and will be a key element of any deal that emerges in Copenhagen.
Sakihito Ozawa, Japan’s Environment Minister, today said his country would not stand by its earlier pledge to cut carbon emissions by 25 per cent by 2020 if the Kyoto Protocol is extended without specifying emissions reductions targets for both the US and China.
Artist Mark Coreth’s life-sized ice sculpture of a polar bear was unveiled today in Trafalgar Square; over the remainder of the Copenhagen talks, it will melt, leaving behind only a puddle of water and a bronze skeleton.
Finally, is it just us, or has COP15 brought out the crazy in the global denialsphere more than ever before? Consider some of the incidents in past days: Viscount Monckton calling climate activists “Nazis” and “Hitler Youth”; Republican US Rep. James Sensenbrenner sending a letter asking Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to blacklist the UK climate researchers whose emails were hacked and are now being waved about as “evidence” of a “climate hoax”; The Wall Street Journal publishing a bizarre commentary branding climate scientists as intolerant, anti-humanist totalitarians; and US publisher Andrew Breitbart’s Tweet, “Capital punishment for Dr. James Hansen. Climategate is high treason.” (Never mind that Hansen isn’t one of the UK Climatic Research Unit scientists whose emails were hacked.) What’s up with the increasingly rabid fury? Are they afraid something meaningful will actually be agreed to in Copenhagen? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

G77 negotiator: 2 degree C target ‘condemns Africa to death’

Greenbang — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:56:41 +0000

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

In a press conference at COP15 today, scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography called attention to the gap between reported and actual greenhouse gas emissions. “There is overwhelming evidence that actual global greenhouse gas emissions often bear little resemblance to reported ones,” said Ray Weiss, a professor of geochemistry and an expert on trace gases. “We cannot hope to regulate greenhouse gas emissions effectively if we don’t know what those emissions actually are.”
Reuters reports that two groups of experts both warn that China’s greenhouse gas emissions could grow so much by 2020 they could exceed the combined reductions of both the US and the EU up to four times over.
The Kremlin announced today that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will attend COP15 on 17 – 18 December.
More than 100 nations represented at Copenhagen, including 43 small island states, are calling for a goal to limit the global temperature to 1.5 degrees C or less above pre-industrial levels. Most developed nations continue to press for a limit of 2 degrees C, considered to be the threshold for catastrophic climate change. Sudan’s Lumumba Di-Aping, lead negotiator for the G77, said the 2 degree target was “condemning Africa to death.”
A team of scientists from the Carnegie Institution for Science today announced a new website that enables better monitoring of rainforest destruction and the resulting impacts on greenhouse gas emissions.
The Met Office today announced it has gathered over 1,700 signatures from scientists across the UK in just four days backing the validity of current climate science. “This tremendous response affirms our confidence in the science, and reinforces the immediacy of the challenge and the critical nature of the discussions at Copenhagen,” write John Hirst, chief executive of the Met Office, and Julia Slingo, chief scientist at the Met Office.
In response to President Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize today, Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth – International, stated, “President Obama has been rewarded the Nobel Prize in large part due to his vision for a better future and his ability to inspire hope that bold change is possible. We congratulate him on this honour, but he has not kept true to the vision he articulated during his campaign. President Obama pledged to solve climate change, but the United States is now playing a harmful role on the global stage. At climate negotiations in Copenhagen, US delegates are working to undermine existing agreements and shirk their country’s responsibilities as the world’s largest historical polluter. They are working to protect the interests of rich nations that caused the climate crisis, instead of heeding developing countries’ call for a strong and fair treaty. President Obama’s legacy will not be determined by an award; it will be determined by his accomplishments. We urge President Obama to find in his award the inspiration necessary to re-think his administration’s approach. He must commit the United States to partner with the world’s poorest nations to solve climate change in a just and equitable way, with far larger emissions reductions and much more money on the table than he is currently proposing.”
Carbon finance services firm IDEAcarbon is providing ongoing commentary on events in Copenhagen on its website. The organisation writes today, “A series of small but perhaps significant disputes is highlighting the lack of progress in the first week of the COP-15 negotiations. While none appear on the surface to represent major stumbling blocks to longer-term progress, they illustrate the growing tension in Copenhagen as negotiators struggle to come up with formulations that will allow their ministers and heads of state to reach a political agreement by the end of next week.”IDEAcarbon considers that this disagreement and others reflect the degree to which trust in the Copenhagen process has broken down. The widespread publication on Tuesday of the so-called ‘Danish text’ has incensed small developing countries, even though some of them were reportedly consulted in the preparation of the document.”The first week of COP is normally a time when Parties can hold a hard line, before the politicians arrive and the pressure builds for consensus and agreement. But with the stakes so much higher at this COP than it has been in recent years, it may take longer for the tensions to ebb and for minds to refocus on the desired political outcome on December 18.”

Tiny island nation of Tuvalu roars at COP15 today

Greenbang — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:06:42 +0000

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

Negotiations were temporarily suspended at the request of the nation of Tuvalu to give delegates time to resolve a dispute over climate goals behind the scenes: several island nations and poor African countries had said they want a maximum temperature rise goal of 1.5 degrees C and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations stabilised at 350 parts per million, while developed countries and fast-growing developing nations like China, India and South Africa want a goal of 450 parts per million.
South Africa was today announced as host of the COP17, the UN’s 17th climate conference to be held in 2011.
The WWF today released its Copenhagen Deal Barometer, which measures the likelihood of a “fair, ambitious and binding” agreement coming out of COP15. The barometer provides regular updates from experts at the meetings and news about the latest carbon reduction committments being made by key countries. As of Day 3, the barometer assesses the talks as being “Off-Track.”
Numerous countries have so far earned the Climate Action Network” “Fossil of The Day” awards for being among the previous day’s three worst performers at the COP15 negotiations. Day 1 awards went to all industrialised nations, with Austria, Finland, Sweden, Saudia Arabia and Canada being singled out for special notice. Day 2 awards went to Ukraine (both 1st and 3rd place) and industrialised non-EU countries. Today’s Fossil of the Day winners: Canada and Croatia, which shared 1st place, and Russia. A first-ever “Ray of the Day” award also went to the island nation of Tuvalu for “its bold proposal to discuss a legal outcome from the Copenhagen summit.”
Fifty young people from the US broke into a climate denier gathering being held in Copenhagen at the same time as COP15 and rushed the stage during live broadcast coverage to display a banner calling for “Clean Energy Now.”
US climate negotiator Todd Stern arrived in Copenhagen and fired back criticism at China, whose lead delegate had called the US’s emissions reductions targets unremarkable.
WWF is providing live and on-demand webcasts from the climate talks here.
The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme today unveiled its Climate-Change Index, a visual representation that tracks global changes in carbon dioxide, temperature, sea level and sea ice. The index shows a steady rise since 1980, the first year for which the index was calculated, with just three one-year downward trends. All three of those down years — 1982, 1992 and 1996 — happened after volcanic eruptions: El Chichon in Mexico (1982), Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines (1991) and Montserrat in the Caribbean (1996). The index will be updated annually.
US House Representative James Sensenbrenner will lead a delegation of Congressional Republicans to Copenhagen next week to protest President Barack Obama’s expected pledge in support of a strong deal on climate change.

COP15: Data shows 2000s were warmest on record

Greenbang — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:41:35 +0000

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh’s State Minister of Environment and Forest, said at a news conference that his country will be the one hardest hit by climate change and rising seas and should therefore receive at least 15 per cent of any global climate fund that might be created to help developing nations.
Bangladesh’s place as the country most at risk from climate change was also supported by Germanwatch’s Global Climate Risk 2010, which found that nation was hardest hit by extreme weather events — both in terms of lives lost and cost — between 1990 and 2008. Myanmar and Honduras ranked second and third, respectively, in impact over that same time period.
The World Meteorological Organisation said that 2009 is likely to rank in the top 10 warmest on record since the beginning of instrumental climate records in 1850, with a global combined sea surface and land surface air temperature 0.44°C ± 0.11°C (0.79°F ± 0.20°F) above the 1961–1990 annual average of 14.00°C/57.2°F. Only the US and Canada experienced conditions that were cooler than average, the organisation’s data shows. It added that the decade of the 2000s was warmer than the decade spanning the 1990s, which in turn was warmer than the 1980s (1980–1989).
The UK’s Met Office also released climate findings indicating that this decade has been the warmest on record since instrument measurements were first taken.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is calling for a tax of 0.005 per cent on global financial transactions to raise funds to help developing nations deal with climate change, poverty, health and education challenges.
Throughout COP15, the Copenhagen Town Hall Square will be home to “Hopenhagen Live,” a venue for concerts, exhibits, film screenings and other events. The national stadium “Parken” will also host performances by artists such as Senegal’s Youssou n’Dour, Indonesia’s Anggun and Jamaica’s Shaggy.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change is posting photos from the climate conference on Flickr.
Global sea levels could rise by as much as 1.9 metres this century, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Yesterday, 56 newspapers in 45 different countries took the unprecedented step of all publishing a joint editorial on the climate crisis. The editorial states in part: “Climate change has been caused over centuries, has consequences that will endure for all time and our prospects of taming it will be determined in the next 14 days. We call on the representatives of the 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen not to hesitate, not to fall into dispute, not to blame each other but to seize opportunity from the greatest modern failure of politics. This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world, or between east and west. Climate change affects everyone, and must be solved by everyone.” The full text, drafted by the Guardian, can be viewed here.
The proposals currently on the table in Copenhagen will mean a global temperature rise of 3.8 degrees C by century’s end, according to the latest analysis by Climate Interactive’s Scoreboard. That’s not enough to prevent catastrophic climate change, which is expected under any scenario in which temperatures rise by more than 2 degrees C. Recent pledges by India and South Africa were not enough to have an impact on the Scoreboard figure, which has remained unchanged since its release on 29 November.
Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, writes, “Today’s the first day of the formal talks and now 110 leaders have agreed to be there in the end game. I’m convinced that will make a difference. We have to go for maximum ambition — there’s no way this is a done deal. News today is that China have said their emissions will peak between 2030 and 2040, South Africa have put a number on the table and India’s PM is coming.” Read more here.

World leaders start critical climate talks in Copenhagen

Greenbang — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:59:23 +0000

COP15, the global talks on climate change, kicked off today in Copenhagen with thousands of delegates in attendance.

The gathering launched with a screening of “Please Help the World,” a four-minute long film directed by Mikkel Blaabjerg Poulsen. The film depicts a young girl who implores politicians to help the world after waking from a nightmare about the devastating impacts of climate change.

“I hope that the film can affect politicians in a positive way, so that they may raise their goals a little higher, because their emotions have been touched,” Poulsen said.

After the film, the negotiations began with speeches from Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Yvo De Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s prime minister; and President Connie Hedegaard, president of COP15.

Other developments on the first day of COP15 include:

UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband writes from Copenhagen, “Today’s the first day of the formal talks and now 110 leaders have agreed to be there in the end game. I’m convinced that will make a difference. We have to go for maximum ambition — there’s no way this is a done deal. News today is that China have said their emissions will peak between 2030 and 2040, South Africa have put a number on the table and India’s PM is coming. Check back here for more updates.”
THINK, the Scandinavian electric vehicle maker, and its largest fleet customer, Move About, the Norwegian car-share fleet operator, are providing 15 THINK City courtesy vehicles for delegates attending the conference.
Ode Magazine is in Copenhagen to distribute 75,000 copies of a special publication called “The Solutions We Need Now” to delegates, business leaders and activists. A free digital version is also available via www.solutionsweneednow.org. The publication highlights a host of innovative ideas for tackling climate change, storing carbon dioxide and developing clean energy. “We may expect a lot of doom and gloom about rising sea levels and drowning polar bears in Copenhagen over the next two weeks,” said Ode co-founder and editor-in-chief Jurriaan Kamp. “However, the challenge of climate change also presents an unprecedented opportunity for humanity to clean up the environment, create jobs, and build a fairer and more just world. The technology to do this is available and affordable.”
Specialist tax advising firm Taxand says then carbon border taxes look to be the likely long-term legacy of the Copenhagen talks. However, it notes that such legislation should encourage developing countries with sustainable growth rather than “beating them over the head with a potentially unworkable and blunt instrument; implementation would be counterproductive to the over-arching aims of Copenhagen.”
Live webcasts of COP15 talks can be viewed here.
Scientists attending the COP15 conference today held a side event aimed at highlighting nitrogen’s role in climate change, saying there is an immediate need for a global assessment of the nitrogen cycle and its impact on climate. On a planetary scale, human activities, especially fertiliser application, have more than doubled the amount of reactive nitrogen in circulation on land. This massive alteration of the nitrogen cycle affects climate, food security, energy security, human health and ecosystem health. The long-term consequences of these changes are yet to be fully realised, but the human impact on the nitrogen cycle has so far been largely missed in international environmental assessments.