Author: Ian Andrew

A war on drafts has broken out at the UN Climate Change conference, on a day which also say the European Union (EU) commit $3 billion US to climate fund, the G-77 chief negotiator of walk out of talks in anger and a divisive split over a proposed the two degree target.


As the Danish draft continues to make it round, another draft has surfaced firmly putting demands on rich countries. In November, during a closed door meeting in Beijing, India, China, South Africa and Brazil, the four major emerging economies finalised an 11-page draft- the “Copenhagen Accord”. It proposes a “binding” amendment to the Kyoto Protocol calling for rich countries to reduce their carbon emissions by more than 40 percent compared to 1990 levels.


Led by Beijing, the initiative was conceived as a rebuttal by developing countries to the “Copenhagen Agreement” allegedly written by the conference’s host country.


According to AFP, the “Copenhagen Accord”, posted on the website of French daily newspaper Le Monde, embraces the objective of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. It calls on rich countries, committed to CO2 reductions of at least five percent by 2012, to “multiply by eight” and points out that reductions should be made “mainly through domestic measures” and not through the purchase of so-called “offsets” outside their borders.


G-77 chief negotiator walks out of talks


Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aiping, chief negotiator for 130 developing countries walked out of a consultation meeting with UN representatives in anger, claiming the climate change conference will probably be wrecked by the “bad intentions of some people”.


“Things are not going well” a normally tight lipped Di-Aiping said to Danish TV.



In another development Di-Aiping called on US President Barack Obama stating it would be “embarrassing for the US not to be part of a solution to save humanity”. The “USA is the worlds largest emitter historically and per capita. A reduction of four percent compared to 1990 levels will not help save the world. We ask the USA to join the Kyoto Protocol and take on commitments comparable to Annex 1 countries (industrialized countries)” said Di-Aiping.


“This is a challenge that President Barack Obama needs to rise as a Nobel Prize winner and as an advocate of a multilateral global society. We know he is proud to be a part of that community through his family relations in Africa” he added.


The Two Degree Split


Analysis from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that a temperature increase of two degrees Celsius can be said to be a threshold value. Above this value the effects of climate change would probably be more difficult to manage and would compound at a quicker pace. Now, more than 100 nations back even tougher climate goals.


The 1.5 Celsius goal would require cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by rich nations of at least 45 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.


More popular than Tiger Woods


“Copenhagen” is now the number one search query on the world’s leading internet search engine, thwarting US golfer Tiger Woods from the top spot.

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Delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, had quite a day.


The week leading up to the conference, a report was circulating that Denmark, host of the conference, had a drawn up a text that was sure to come under fire. Yesterday afternoon Britains’ The Guardian Newspaper published what they claimed to be this text. Further the paper also claims to have read “a confidential analysis by developing countries” which “shows deep unease”.


The draft acknowledges that 2020 as the year which global emission should peak, while also acknowledging that developed countries have collectively peaked and that the timeframe will be longer for developing countries. The text goes on to specify emission reduction targets for both developed and developing countries.


What as the latter up in arms is possible shift of control of enforcement of any agreement to developed countries.


Confused yet?



Under the present agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, developing countries are exempt from obligations, but industrialized countries have stressed that this will not be feasible in the future. The Danish text says that “developing countries, except the least developed which may contribute at their own discretion, commit to nationally appropriate mitigation actions”. According to The Guardian’s sources, “developing countries are infelicitous about the new proposed division between the ‘least developed’ and other developing nations.


Another sticky point is the suggestion to transfer more control over the enforcement of the Copenhagen agreement from the UN administration, to the World Bank. Such a move would indirectly shift more control over to the industrialized world.


In other news, UPI is reporting the period from 2000 -2009 will be considered to be one of the warmest on record. Additionally the World Meteorological Organization said 2009 will rank among the 10 warmest years since 1850. The WMO said temperatures for the current year stand between 0.6 degrees and 1 degree Fahrenheit higher than the average from 1961-1990.


The WMO said the period from 2000-2009 was warmer than the 1990-99 decade, which was warmer than the 1980-1989 time span.
Forecasters cited El Nino conditions and human-caused global climate change for the increases. Only in North America were lower average temperatures recorded.


“We are in a warming trend – we have no doubt about it” said WMO Secretary General, Michel Jarraud.


And from the “Did they really do that file”, you may remember when CEO’s of the former Big Three Automakers arrived in Washington, hands held out, looking for a big influx of cash, but they all arrived via private jet. Only to be scolded by the commission and ordered to dispose of the luxury items. Fox news is reporting that delegates haven’t been arriving in fleet of Smart cars, but rather the city airport has been swarmed with 140 private jets, and over 1200 hired limousines and “a carbon footprint the size of a small country”.

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