Olive Heffernan
The ruckus over restricted access to the Bella Centre – site of the UN climate negotiations – continued this afternoon, as UN organizers continued to leave accredited conference delegates outside in the cold. On hearing the news some of those scheduled to attend, such as Kevin Anderson, director of the UK Tyndall Centre on Climate Change Research, cancelled their plans and instead opted to stay at home. A spokesperson for the Tyndall Centre said that they will now have to refocus their Thursday side event on the implications of 4 degrees of warming owing to the absence of its relevant experts.
As disappointed delegates froze outside, things heated up inside the Bella Centre today. With less than 48 hours before head heads of state arrive here to sign a political deal, negotiators are no closer to agreeing on some of the key issues.
The past few days have been marked by bitter exchanges between the US and Chinese delegations over the issue of emissions reduction targets. According to the Times, Bejing has accused Washington of playing dirty tricks.
The draft negotiating text on the UNFCCC process signals the extent of disagreement: it now lacks reference to targets for emissions reductions targets, and to targets for avoiding deforestation, which were included in an earlier draft. (Further complicating the issue, there are two texts that negotiators are dealing with: the text that deals with the Kyoto Protocol and the text that includes all signatories of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change i.e. it includes the US. The US will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol; hence the need for two seperate agreements).
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said today that without resolution of all issues, nothing can be agreed. Agreeing a deal is complex, he said, because every issue is interlinked and the puzzle can only be solved if all pieces are in place at the same time.
Speaking to the press today, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said that the negotiations have been progressing too slowly. Upon arriving today, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon reiterated this concern, and tried to ease the tension between the world’s two largest emitters, saying that rich and poor countries must work together and “stop pointing fingers” at each other.
While UN officials remain publicly optimistic that a political deal can be reached here this week in Copenhagen, others aren’t convinced. Writing in the Independent, Mark Lynas says that “at this rate, Copenhagen will not only fail, it will be a disaster”. Meanwhile, the Times speculates that world leaders may boycott the talks if failure seems imminent.