Archive by category | UN Conference on Climate Change, Copenhagen

Copenhagen: ‘They are heading into that zombie state’

Posted by Jeff Tollefson | Categories:

It’s crunch time here, and everything appears to be moving along as expected, which is to say everything is behind schedule. The main negotiating bodies finished their work this morning, which is to say that they got as far as they can go. The Danes were expected to drop new text proposing some compromise language this afternoon, which, if accepted, in theory, the ministers would then iron into shape before the leaders take over tomorrow. But there are procedural delays, and the Danes have hit the pause button to try to design a new framework for breaking up the text into pieces rather than negotiating everything in the main plenary, where 193 countries squabbling over every detail could send things into chaos.  Read more

Video: Chaos in Copenhagen

Posted by Olive Heffernan | Categories: ,

Here’s a short video from Nature on the organizational disaster that left hundreds of registered delegates excluded from the UN negotiations on climate change. As talks on a climate deal heated up inside the Bella Centre in Copenhagen, problems of overcapacity left many stranded for hours outside in the cold as they awaited a decision from UN organizers.  Read more

Copenhagen: Moving forward, destination unknown

Posted by Jeff Tollefson | Categories:

Something resembling order has been restored to the Bella Center in Copenhagen. The climate talks are back on track after getting derailed, for a second time, by protests from poor countries who are angry about a lack of commitment from industrialized nations as well as lack of clarity about the ultimate architecture of a possible agreement (see BBC , Telegraph).  Read more

Copenhagen: REDD all over, lofty goals, lesser ambitions

Posted by Jeff Tollefson | Categories:

Sunday was Forest Day, and I celebrated it along with several hundred people at a forum chalk full of science and policy presentations about integrating efforts to integrate forests into the global warming framework. This annual event is in its third year, and the efforts of those present would appear to be paying off: Negotiators working on the deforestation text have reached agreement on all but a pair of issues, which will likely be kicked up to environment ministers.  Read more

Copenhagen, day five: Multiple bubbles, too many choices and one giant question mark

Posted by Jeff Tollefson | Categories:

Copenhagen, day five: Multiple bubbles, too many choices and one giant question mark

I’ll be honest. I completely ignored the negotiations in Copenhagen on Friday. No kidding. I didn’t even pretend to care. Partly because not much appeared to be happening, at least not much outside of the usual political struggles that we’ve reported countless times over the past two years. But also because plenty of interesting talks are under way at any number of side events throughout the conference center. There are too many choices, in fact. I focused my time on a fascinating series of talks related to emissions scenarios, how various commitments address the actual problem of global warming and  … Read more

Copenhagen round up

Posted by Olive Heffernan | Categories: , ,

Copenhagen round up

Daniel Cressey; cross-posted from The Great Beyond The European Union has agreed to provide 2.4 billion euros per year from 2010 to 2012 for ‘fast start funding’ to get climate mitigation projects off the ground in developing countries. EU leaders say they want a total of 7 billion euros per year coughed up internationally. “The EU has now taken on a significant share of the total amount and has shown leadership on the issue. Now we want to encourage the rest of the world to contribute to reach 7 billion. It would be good if we could get an agreement  … Read more

Copenhagen: Upon arrival, yesterday’s news today

Posted by Jeff Tollefson | Categories:

I arrived in Copenhagen via Amsterdam from Washington today, along with a host of other Washingtonians making the same journey. After a quick shower, I found my way to the conference centre, through the metal detectors, past the credentialing stand and into the conference. Thousands of people milled about; hundreds of journalists filled a media room; bright lights and cameras focused on a revolving slate of officials who were being interviewed in one language or another.  Read more

Copenhagen round up

Posted by Olive Heffernan | Categories: , ,

Copenhagen round up

Daniel Cressey; cross-posted from The Great Beyond Yesterday ‘Copenhagen’ overtook ‘Tiger Woods’ as the number one subject mentioned in news stories and social networking sites. Today though Obama’s Peace Prize speech has jumped ahead of Copenhagen. But if that has dampened the atmosphere at the climate talks it’s not showing. Diplomats from across the world are still wrangling about just about everything. At the serious end of the spectrum there has been another ‘huge fight that has the potential to derail the talks’. This one is over proposals from the tiny island of Tuvalu to keep the rise in temperatures  … Read more