Environmentalists and activists rallied worldwide Saturday in favor of a global climate agreement. In Copenhagen (photo above), host city of the ongoing UN negotiations, a six-kilometer march from the parliament building to the conference venue gathered an estimated 50,000 people.
Michael von Bülow 12/12/2009 18:30
The demonstration, masterminded by 515 organizations from 67 countries, will start with music and speeches at the Danish parliament at 1 p.m. From the Copenhagen city center, up to 80,000 participants – according to the organizers – will continue on a six kilometer march to Bella Center, the venue hosting the UN climate change conference.
Danish model and climate activist Helena Christensen, Bollywood actor Rahul Bose of India, and Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo will all be part of the climate cortege. And at the end of the demonstration, former Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa will lead a candlelight vigil, one of some 3,000 set to take place in 130 countries around the world.
Danish police have for days been massively present in the streets of Copenhagen, ready to suppress potentially violent episodes. The police expect between 40,000 and 60,000 to participate in the demo on Saturday.
“We strive to be as little visible as possible,” a police spokesperson told the Danish daily Politiken, but shopkeepers along the route and in other parts of the city were informed to prepare for possible trouble.
In other countries, demonstrations have already taken place on Saturday.
In Australia (photo above), organizers said 50,000 people had taken to the streets, wearing sky-blue shoelaces in a call for a strong and binding agreement at UN talks in Copenhagen, AFP reports.
Demonstrations were also reported in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Afghanistan – in what might in the space of 24 hours become a global civic call for a climate deal in Copenhagen.
According to delegates, negotiators have advanced on texts on how to supply new green technologies – like wind and solar power – to developing nations. Progress has also been made in promoting use of forests to soak up carbon dioxide, Reuters reports.
But there are still deep splits on issues such as raising funds for developing countries and sharing out the burden of greenhouse gas emissions curbs.
On Saturday, industrial countries criticized a draft climate agreement, submitted Friday, for not making stronger demands on major developing countries.
It became clear that initial reactions to the negotiating draft had underscored the split between the US-led wealthy countries and countries still struggling to overcome poverty and catch up with the modern world.
US delegate Jonathan Pershing said the draft failed to address the contentious issue of curbing carbon emissions by emerging economies.
"The current draft didn't work in terms of where it is headed," Pershing said in the plenary, supported by the European Union, Japan and Norway.
Environment ministers started arriving in the Danish capital Saturday for informal talks before world leaders join the summit at the end of the coming week.
To top it off, the United States and China — the world's top two carbon polluters — even got into a battle of words.
"It's time to begin to focus on the big picture," said Yvo de Boer, the top UN climate official. "The serious discussion on finance and targets has begun."
A much-disputed 188-page text was whittled down to a mere seven pages of stark options on how much global warming is acceptable and how deeply nations must individually and collectively cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Options ranged from nearly eliminating global emissions to cutting them in half by 2050.
The document forced countries to abandon long-held posturing on secondary topics and focus on crunch issues. Starting Saturday, environment ministers will be able to go through the 46 points of text one by one, checking off some and leaving the toughest for the 110 heads of state and government arriving at the end of next week.
Many countries voiced reservations about the structure of the document or some of its clauses. "But that's all right. That's what negotiations are all about," de Boer said.
Todd Stern, the special US climate envoy, called the text "constructive" but singled out the section on helping poor countries lower their growth of carbon emissions as "unbalanced." He said the requirements on industrial countries were tougher than on developing nations and the section was not "a basis for negotiation."
Environmental groups welcomed the text as a step forward, although they lamented the absence of what they considered essential elements.
"It's a good pointer to a number of issues to be dealt with at the ministerial and even the head-of-state level over the next week," said Kim Carstensen of the environmental group WWF. "We're disappointed it does not include any clarity on what the legal outcome will be."
It said all countries together should reduce emissions by a range of 50 percent to 95 percent by 2050, and rich countries should cut emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020, in both cases using 1990 as the baseline year.
So far, industrial nations' pledges to cut emissions have amounted to far less than the minimum.
After years of being bogged down in detail, the draft highlighted the broad goals the world must achieve to avoid irreversible change in climate that scientists say could bring many species to extinction and cause upheavals in many parts of the Earth.
The draft agreement, drawn up by Michael Zammit Cutajar of Malta, said global emissions of greenhouse gases should peak "as soon as possible," while avoiding a target year.
It called for new funding in the next three years by wealthy countries to help poor nations adapt to a changing climate, but mentioned no figures. And it made no specific proposals on long-term help for developing countries.
The funding is perhaps the hardest part.
As the draft was circulated, European Union leaders announced in Brussels after two days of tough talks that they would commit 3.6 billion US dollars (2.4 billion euro) a year until 2012 to a short-term fund for poor countries. Most of this money came from Britain, France and Germany. Many cash-strapped former East bloc countries balked at donating but eventually all gave at least a token amount to preserve the 27-nation bloc's unity.
Still unknown is how much the wealthier nations, such as the US and Japan, will contribute.
Demands for a peaking year and for international scrutiny of all mitigation actions in developing countries are hot issues at the negotiating table in Copenhagen. Mainly because developed countries want to be sure that the larger developing countries also do their part to combat global warming.
Ramesh says India has come to Copenhagen "to play a constructive, facilitative, leadership role to ensure an effective and equitable agreement... But at the same time we will not agree to a concept of a peaking year for India because we have a huge backlog of development particularly in expanding rural electricity supply."
India has announced a voluntary target of reducing carbon intensity by 20 to 25 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. It is also planning to implement MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) on emissions, checked by parliament, civil society and media, Ramesh says.
However, only action supported by international finance can be subject to MRV. Unsupported action is exclusively India's business, says Ramesh.
Having completed a first day of concentrated talks with his foreign counterparts in Copenhagen the minister says: "In all these discussions I have had...the basic objective was to highlight not only what India has done in recent weeks pro-actively, voluntarily, but also to underscore the basic positions India will not compromise on even as it engages in constructive negotiations."
The minister adds that although China and India are coordinating negotiations closely, number one and five in the world in terms on emissions "are not in the same boat".
"Mexico is committed to reduce CO2 emissions by 50 million tons a year starting in 2012 with its own means and funds," President Felipe Calderon said, according to AFP.
He added that Mexico is prepared to "reach a rate of reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions of up to 30 percent by the year 2020", and that the country needs "necessary funding and technology transfer" from developed countries to do so.
"We also take on this commitment with the understanding that developed nations will have a responsibility and developing nations a shared and proportional responsibility," Calderon said.
Felipe Calderon will attend the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen at the end of the coming week.
"I believe they are not only insignificant, they actually breed even more distrust on the intentions of European leaders on climate change," said Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping of Sudan on Friday, according to AFP.
"Our view is that European leaders are acting as if they were climate sceptics," he said. "Fundamentally, they are saying this problem does not exist and therefore they are providing no finance whatsoever."
The G-77 negotiator also criticized the EU proposal because it fails to address the issue of setting up long-term financing mechanisms. The EU estimates the need for funding to developing countries to be around 100 billion euro annually by 2020. The both public and private money from developed countries should be spent on adaptation to and mitigation of global warming in developing nations.
The Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei also worried about the long term funding:
"It will be relatively easy for developed countries to come up with a number for the short term for three years," he told AFP. "But what shall we do after three years?"
In a draft text quoted by Danish daily Politiken, the group of 50 countries proposes that rich countries pay five percent of their GDPs to developing countries in support for their fight against climate change.
Asking for five percent would be a very ambitious demand, compared to the funding so far mentioned at the climate negotiations. Five percent of the United States’ GDP alone amounts to 722 billion US dollars (2008 figures). In comparison, the EU has calculated the developing countries’ total need for climate funding to 130 billion dollars (100 billion euro) annually by 2020.
According to the draft, the African Group asks for 400 billion dollars for developing countries from 2010-2012, while the UN estimates the need to be 10 billion dollars each of the three years.
Finally, the text – dated 11 Dec. – suggests that rich countries cut emissions by 50 percent by 2017 compared to 1990 levels, rising to 65 percent by 2020, which are much deeper cuts than offered so far during the negotiations.
The 50 African countries now debate what numbers should be posted in the final text, Politiken reports. The African Group had announced a press briefing on Saturday, however the chairman of the group, Algerian Kamel Djemouai, never turned up, writes www.politiken.dk.
Source< http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2954
Global activists: Seal the deal
Saturday is “great demo day” globally – especially in Copenhagen, host city of the UN climate conference. Organizers forecast up to 80,000 marching for a climate deal in the Danish capital.
Marianne Bom 12/12/2009 12:40
Environmentalists from all over the world have traveled to Copenhagen during the last few days to participate in what is planned for Saturday afternoon as a large-scale demonstration calling for a global climate deal.The demonstration, masterminded by 515 organizations from 67 countries, will start with music and speeches at the Danish parliament at 1 p.m. From the Copenhagen city center, up to 80,000 participants – according to the organizers – will continue on a six kilometer march to Bella Center, the venue hosting the UN climate change conference.
Danish model and climate activist Helena Christensen, Bollywood actor Rahul Bose of India, and Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo will all be part of the climate cortege. And at the end of the demonstration, former Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa will lead a candlelight vigil, one of some 3,000 set to take place in 130 countries around the world.
Danish police have for days been massively present in the streets of Copenhagen, ready to suppress potentially violent episodes. The police expect between 40,000 and 60,000 to participate in the demo on Saturday.
“We strive to be as little visible as possible,” a police spokesperson told the Danish daily Politiken, but shopkeepers along the route and in other parts of the city were informed to prepare for possible trouble.
In other countries, demonstrations have already taken place on Saturday.
In Australia (photo above), organizers said 50,000 people had taken to the streets, wearing sky-blue shoelaces in a call for a strong and binding agreement at UN talks in Copenhagen, AFP reports.
Demonstrations were also reported in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Afghanistan – in what might in the space of 24 hours become a global civic call for a climate deal in Copenhagen.
COP President: Progress has been made
Having reached its halfway point, the UN climate conference in Copenhagen has advanced on texts on green technology transfer to developing countries and on the mechanisms to promote the use of forests to assimilate emissions, say delegates.
AP/Marianne Bom 12/12/2009 16:15
The President of the UN climate conference, Connie Hedegaard (photo above), made a midway status on the conference on Saturday, saying that "we have made considerable progress over the course of the first week".According to delegates, negotiators have advanced on texts on how to supply new green technologies – like wind and solar power – to developing nations. Progress has also been made in promoting use of forests to soak up carbon dioxide, Reuters reports.
But there are still deep splits on issues such as raising funds for developing countries and sharing out the burden of greenhouse gas emissions curbs.
On Saturday, industrial countries criticized a draft climate agreement, submitted Friday, for not making stronger demands on major developing countries.
It became clear that initial reactions to the negotiating draft had underscored the split between the US-led wealthy countries and countries still struggling to overcome poverty and catch up with the modern world.
US delegate Jonathan Pershing said the draft failed to address the contentious issue of curbing carbon emissions by emerging economies.
"The current draft didn't work in terms of where it is headed," Pershing said in the plenary, supported by the European Union, Japan and Norway.
Environment ministers started arriving in the Danish capital Saturday for informal talks before world leaders join the summit at the end of the coming week.
Tough bargaining still ahead at UN climate talks
After one week of UN-led climate negotiations in Copenhagen, some money is finally on the table and a draft agreement has been circulated. Now the really hard bargaining begins.
AP/Michael von Bülow 12/12/2009 11:10
The draft proposal was sent around Friday to the 192-nation conference, although it set no firm figures on financing or cutting greenhouse gas emissions. And the negotiations on sharing the burden are likely to still go down to the wire and await the arrival of the world's leaders next week.To top it off, the United States and China — the world's top two carbon polluters — even got into a battle of words.
"It's time to begin to focus on the big picture," said Yvo de Boer, the top UN climate official. "The serious discussion on finance and targets has begun."
A much-disputed 188-page text was whittled down to a mere seven pages of stark options on how much global warming is acceptable and how deeply nations must individually and collectively cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Options ranged from nearly eliminating global emissions to cutting them in half by 2050.
The document forced countries to abandon long-held posturing on secondary topics and focus on crunch issues. Starting Saturday, environment ministers will be able to go through the 46 points of text one by one, checking off some and leaving the toughest for the 110 heads of state and government arriving at the end of next week.
Many countries voiced reservations about the structure of the document or some of its clauses. "But that's all right. That's what negotiations are all about," de Boer said.
Todd Stern, the special US climate envoy, called the text "constructive" but singled out the section on helping poor countries lower their growth of carbon emissions as "unbalanced." He said the requirements on industrial countries were tougher than on developing nations and the section was not "a basis for negotiation."
Environmental groups welcomed the text as a step forward, although they lamented the absence of what they considered essential elements.
"It's a good pointer to a number of issues to be dealt with at the ministerial and even the head-of-state level over the next week," said Kim Carstensen of the environmental group WWF. "We're disappointed it does not include any clarity on what the legal outcome will be."
It said all countries together should reduce emissions by a range of 50 percent to 95 percent by 2050, and rich countries should cut emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020, in both cases using 1990 as the baseline year.
So far, industrial nations' pledges to cut emissions have amounted to far less than the minimum.
After years of being bogged down in detail, the draft highlighted the broad goals the world must achieve to avoid irreversible change in climate that scientists say could bring many species to extinction and cause upheavals in many parts of the Earth.
The draft agreement, drawn up by Michael Zammit Cutajar of Malta, said global emissions of greenhouse gases should peak "as soon as possible," while avoiding a target year.
It called for new funding in the next three years by wealthy countries to help poor nations adapt to a changing climate, but mentioned no figures. And it made no specific proposals on long-term help for developing countries.
The funding is perhaps the hardest part.
As the draft was circulated, European Union leaders announced in Brussels after two days of tough talks that they would commit 3.6 billion US dollars (2.4 billion euro) a year until 2012 to a short-term fund for poor countries. Most of this money came from Britain, France and Germany. Many cash-strapped former East bloc countries balked at donating but eventually all gave at least a token amount to preserve the 27-nation bloc's unity.
Still unknown is how much the wealthier nations, such as the US and Japan, will contribute.
India: No to peaking year
India has set up clear limits to the kind of climate commitments it is ready make in Copenhagen, says Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. India says no to a peaking year of emissions and rejects international scrutiny of domestic measures to cut greenhouse gases.
Marianne Bom 12/12/2009 15:20
India is willing to curb its growth in carbon emissions, but stands firm on its rejection of a "peaking" year. Nor will India accept international scrutiny of voluntary domestic measures to tackle climate change, says Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to The Times of India.Demands for a peaking year and for international scrutiny of all mitigation actions in developing countries are hot issues at the negotiating table in Copenhagen. Mainly because developed countries want to be sure that the larger developing countries also do their part to combat global warming.
Ramesh says India has come to Copenhagen "to play a constructive, facilitative, leadership role to ensure an effective and equitable agreement... But at the same time we will not agree to a concept of a peaking year for India because we have a huge backlog of development particularly in expanding rural electricity supply."
India has announced a voluntary target of reducing carbon intensity by 20 to 25 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. It is also planning to implement MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) on emissions, checked by parliament, civil society and media, Ramesh says.
However, only action supported by international finance can be subject to MRV. Unsupported action is exclusively India's business, says Ramesh.
Having completed a first day of concentrated talks with his foreign counterparts in Copenhagen the minister says: "In all these discussions I have had...the basic objective was to highlight not only what India has done in recent weeks pro-actively, voluntarily, but also to underscore the basic positions India will not compromise on even as it engages in constructive negotiations."
The minister adds that although China and India are coordinating negotiations closely, number one and five in the world in terms on emissions "are not in the same boat".
Mexico offers voluntary emission cuts
President Felipe Calderon promises that his country will reduce its greenhouse gases starting in 2012.
Marianne Bom 12/12/2009 13:25
Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Friday promised that his country will start reducing its greenhouse gases two years from now at its own expense – and continue thereafter, provided Mexico later receives financial and technological support from developed countries."Mexico is committed to reduce CO2 emissions by 50 million tons a year starting in 2012 with its own means and funds," President Felipe Calderon said, according to AFP.
He added that Mexico is prepared to "reach a rate of reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions of up to 30 percent by the year 2020", and that the country needs "necessary funding and technology transfer" from developed countries to do so.
"We also take on this commitment with the understanding that developed nations will have a responsibility and developing nations a shared and proportional responsibility," Calderon said.
Felipe Calderon will attend the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen at the end of the coming week.
G-77: EU funding “insignificant”
Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, negotiator for 130 developing countries in the Group of 77, writes off the European Union as “providing no finance whatsoever”.
Marianne Bom 12/12/2009 10:45
Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping of Sudan – negotiator for the G-77 – is definitely not impressed by EU’s pledge to fund 7.2 billion euro over the next three years."I believe they are not only insignificant, they actually breed even more distrust on the intentions of European leaders on climate change," said Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping of Sudan on Friday, according to AFP.
"Our view is that European leaders are acting as if they were climate sceptics," he said. "Fundamentally, they are saying this problem does not exist and therefore they are providing no finance whatsoever."
The G-77 negotiator also criticized the EU proposal because it fails to address the issue of setting up long-term financing mechanisms. The EU estimates the need for funding to developing countries to be around 100 billion euro annually by 2020. The both public and private money from developed countries should be spent on adaptation to and mitigation of global warming in developing nations.
The Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei also worried about the long term funding:
"It will be relatively easy for developed countries to come up with a number for the short term for three years," he told AFP. "But what shall we do after three years?"
Africa considering tough demands
According to a draft text, 50 African countries are considering demanding five percent of rich nations' GDPs for developing countries, plus deep emission cuts, reports Danish daily Politiken.
Marianne Bom 12/12/2009 17:50
The African Group is discussing tough financial demands of the developed countries at the UN climate conference.In a draft text quoted by Danish daily Politiken, the group of 50 countries proposes that rich countries pay five percent of their GDPs to developing countries in support for their fight against climate change.
Asking for five percent would be a very ambitious demand, compared to the funding so far mentioned at the climate negotiations. Five percent of the United States’ GDP alone amounts to 722 billion US dollars (2008 figures). In comparison, the EU has calculated the developing countries’ total need for climate funding to 130 billion dollars (100 billion euro) annually by 2020.
According to the draft, the African Group asks for 400 billion dollars for developing countries from 2010-2012, while the UN estimates the need to be 10 billion dollars each of the three years.
Finally, the text – dated 11 Dec. – suggests that rich countries cut emissions by 50 percent by 2017 compared to 1990 levels, rising to 65 percent by 2020, which are much deeper cuts than offered so far during the negotiations.
The 50 African countries now debate what numbers should be posted in the final text, Politiken reports. The African Group had announced a press briefing on Saturday, however the chairman of the group, Algerian Kamel Djemouai, never turned up, writes www.politiken.dk.
Source< http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2954
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