EcoRadio

Category: Climate chaos

The atmosphere is to the earth as a layer of varnish is to a desktop globe. It is thin, fragile and essential for preserving the items on the surface.150 years of burning fossil fuel have overloaded the atmosphere to the point where the earth is ill. It now has a fever. Read the detailed article, Soothing Gaia’s Fever for an evocative account of that analogy. The items listed here detail progress on coordinating 6.5 billion people in the most critical project undertaken by humanity. 

  • Copenhagen diary: ‘We are on the Titanic and sinking fast.

     

     

    Such drafts that are emerging are vague in the extreme. By midnight on Tuesday – 72 hours before this whole process is due to wrap up – American negotiators were demanding that all appearances of the world “shall” – which would signify a binding commitment – be replaced by the word “should”.

     

    There is not even agreement on how many agreements there should be. Developing countries – led by China – would like to see an extention of the existing Kyoto protocol. Industrialised countries – such as Japan – would like to see Kyoto scrapped, or folded into a new agreement.

     

    Here is what the representative from the tiny island state of Tuvalu has to say about the progress of negotiations: “I have a feeling of dread that we are on the Titanic and sinking fast, but we can’t get the lifeboats because the president says we don’t need lifeboats.”

     

    Sleep deprivation

     

    There are just 48 hours or so until the end of the talks and the smaller nations are already shattered, beginning to stagger round in deep confusion. One Bolivian ambassador had 40 minutes’ sleep last night and faces dozens of meetings today; an Indian minister says he went to 60 meetings with individual countries yesterday; the G77 negotiators are walking around in a daze. Some say this steroid-style of negotiation is deliberately intended to exhaust and befuddle anyone but the largest delegations. A medical doctor here says: “Confusion is a change in mental status in which a person is not able to think with his or her usual level of clarity. It has multiple causes, including injuries, medical conditions, medications, environmental factors and UN conferences.” That last bit’s a joke.

     

    Forest champion

     

    Good to see MP “Bio” Barry Gardiner, education minister but former minister for bugs, beetles, bluebottles and all other living creatures at the department of the environment. Suitably sporting a spider’s web tie, Gardiner is here with Globe International, a group of legislators from around the world, and he’s deeply concerned about the forest negotiations. “What it needs is bigger payments for early action by countries, incentives and stabilisation”.

     

    Prescott steps in

     

    Stirring stuff today from former environment secretary John Prescott who negotiated the Kyoto treaty by banging heads together in Japan 11 years ago. This morning he was in the Danish parliament taking on the US special envoy on climate change, Todd Stern, for saying emissions is “just maths” and calling on the US to go way beyond the 17% cut on the table. Todd’s comments, Prescott said, “offend anyone with a sense of fairness and certainly goes against the agreed UN principle that governs climate change negotiations”.

     

    Copenhagen online

     

    What exactly are the negotiators and world leaders signing up to in our name and what are the implications? It’s almost impossible for anyone to know. Decisions are being made at a bewildering speed, there is little consultation, no chance to reflect and no way of influencing the process. A new website has just been launched – COP15Planet – which invites groups here in Copenhagen, or around the world, to share their expert opinion. I

  • Copenhagen loopholes could mean rise in emissions, report says

     

     

    The most serious loophole is known as “hot air”. Countries such as Russia and Ukraine were set targets to reduce emissions in 1997 when the Kyoto treaty was signed. They were also awarded carbon pollution permits for some of their expected emissions, to trade with nation that could cut carbon more cheaply. But since then their heavy industries have crashed, meaning their targets have been surpassed and they have billions of unused carbon credits which they want to carry over into the next round of targets.

     

    “Russia could be allowed to emit more than 30% more than today, Ukraine over 50%, and they could still meet their targets. In addition, they can sell the surplus credits to another country, allowing the country that buys them to emit more,” says the report. In the worst case, it says, this loophole could result in more than 15% more greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere.

     

    The second loophole allows rich countries to “creatively account” for emissions from forestry and land use changes. If a country can show that its forestry activities emit more carbon than they store away, UN rules allow it not to account for these emissions. But if their forestry activities do store away carbon, they can account for this sequestration and receive carbon credits. “It’s like claiming that building a new coal-fired power plant every year was a planned development and that the resulting emissions increases should not be accounted for,” said the report.

     

    The third loophole identified is carbon offsetting. This allows rich countries to emit more greenhouse gases than their target by paying for emission reductions in other countries. Friends of the Earth estimates that the use of offsets would lead to up to 9 per cent of cuts on 1990 emissions being wiped out from the cuts offered by rich countries.

     

    A further 5% of emission cuts could be avoided if no agreement can be reached on aviation and shipping which account for as much as 5% of all global emissions. Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth, said: “Rich countries must realise that these loopholes are making a mockery of the targets they have put on the table. We need cuts in line with what the science demands – cuts of at least 40 per cent by 2020. Unless rich countries plug these gaping holes, any agreement in Copenhagen will be as leaky as a sieve.”

  • Connie hedegaard resigns as president of Copenhagen summit

     

     

    “With so many heads of state and government having arrived it’s appropriate that the prime minister of Denmark presides,” Hedegaard told the 193-nation meeting. “However, the prime minister has appointed me as his special representative and I will thus continue to negotiate the…outcome with my colleagues,” she said.

     

    She said the move was procedural. Separately, Hedegaard has been criticised by African nations for favouring rich nations in the negotiations.

     

  • Copenhagen negotiator accuses Rudd of lying

    Copenhagen negotiator accuses Rudd of lying

    Emma Alberici in Copenhagen and reporters, ABC December 16, 2009, 7:56

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    The chief negotiator for China and the small African nations at Copenhagen has accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of lying to the Australian people about his position on climate change.

    Lumumba Di-Aping represents China and the G77 group of small countries in the Copenhagen talks.

    He had high expectations of Mr Rudd, who flew in to the Danish capital this morning, but claims that throughout the negotiations the Australian Government has not matched its actions with its rhetoric.

    “The message Kevin Rudd is giving to his people, his citizens, is a fabrication, it’s fiction,” he said.

    “It does not relate to the facts because his actions are climate change scepticism in action.

    “All that Australia has done so far is simply not good enough.

    “It’s puzzling in the sense that here is a Prime Minister who actually won the elections because of his commitment to climate change,” he added.

    “He was the only Prime Minister who came and clearly said we have to do something, we have to join Kyoto protocol and all the rest.

    “And within a very short period of time he changes his mind, changes his position, he starts acting as if he has been converted into climate change scepticism. All what Australia has done so far is simply not good enough.

    The G77 and China claim that the talks have broken down, degenerating into a fight between the developed and the developing world.

    Mr Di-Aping accused Mr Rudd of trying to gain a strategic economic advantage by siding with the United States and the European Union at Copenhagen.

    “Australia is committed to killing Kyoto,” he said.

    “All the actions of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is basically a move away and a killing of Kyoto Protocol.”

    He says the talks have reached a deadlock because the developed world is not committed to helping poor countries in their efforts to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.

    Meanwhile, world leaders have begun arriving at the Copenhagen summit as efforts continue to salvage the talks.

    Full ministerial sessions have begun, amid fears too little progress has been made so far.

    ‘Come a long way’</h3>;

     

    UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says rich and poor nations should stop blaming each other for their differences and bring new and more ambitious proposals to the table.

    Speaking at the opening of the plenary session, Mr Ban urged the delegates to compromise to overcome problems encountered so far.

    “We have come a long way. Let us not falter in the home stretch,” he said.

    “Our goal is to lay the foundation for a legally binding climate treaty as early as possible in 2010.

    “We do not have another year to deliberate – nature does not negotiate with us.”

    Earlier, a senior UN official warned that negotiations were progressing too slowly and that there was still an enormous amount of work to be done.

    Observers say there are still deep divisions between rich and poor nations, which highlighted by the Americans saying they do not expect to offer any further cuts in their carbon emissions.

    Developing countries have meanwhile accused industrialised nations of going back on their commitment to fight climate change.

    French President Nicolas Sarkozy, US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have held a 50-minute joint telephone call to discuss progress at UN climate talks in Denmark.

    A French statement says the four leaders covered the main areas that are currently being negotiated at the conference in Copenhagen, but provided no details on their discussions.

    In Copenhagen, Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger told delegates that leaders and ministers will not be able to find a solution on their own.

    “They need to co-operation (sic) the activists, the scientists, the universities,” he said.

    “They need the individuals whose vision and determination create movements. So ladies and gentlemen, let us regain our momentum, let us regain our purpose, let us regain our hope.”

     

  • Australia among climate index worst

    Australia among climate index worst

    AAP December 14, 2009, 10:34 pm

    Australia is among the bottom four nations who did the least this year to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming, two European pressure groups said in a report on Monday.

    In its fifth annual Climate Protection Index, the Climate Action Network and Germanwatch ranked the 57 countries responsible for 90 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions according to their anti-pollution efforts.

    The index is based on three factors: the current level of CO2 emissions, whether they are rising or falling, and political and regulatory efforts for climate protection.

    Brazil, Sweden and Britain turned in the best performance of the group, the report said, using data primarily gathered by the International Energy Agency.

    But the climate watchdogs left the three top spots unfilled due to what they said was a universal failure to make the kind of fundamental changes necessary to avert a climate disaster.

    “Once again, no country in the world embarked on the path of avoiding dangerous climate change,” the report said.

    Brazil thus claimed fourth place, overtaking traditional front-runner Sweden, thanks in part to a sharp drop in emissions due to the global economic downturn. After Sweden and Britain came Germany, France and India.

    China and the United States – the world’s top two emitters – scored poorly in the ranking at 52 and 53 although the authors of the study hailed “the beginning of a rethink in climate policy” under US President Barack Obama.

    The United States had ranked 58th last year.

    Australia, Kazakhstan, Canada and Saudi Arabia brought up the rear of the current list due to what the report said were a pattern of high emissions and little change in climate policy.

     

  • China must be part of the Copenhagen solution

    As the summit moves to the business end of the proceedings, the debate is narrowing to what is politically achievable. China’s official party line, spelt out in The Weekend Australian by the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Junsai Zhang, is presumably an ambit claim as it moves to position itself as a key player in the formulation of the final communique. There is a long way to go for the world’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases as it argues that the rich, industrialised West owes a “carbon debt” to the developing world and refuses to be legally bound to targets. In the next few days, the world will want movement from China on two key issues – acceptance that carbon cuts must be binding and subject to monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV); and recognition that the rules are changing around financial assistance to countries such as China, India and Brazil.

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    China has complained about the moves to jettison the Kyoto Protocol, but it is clear that document does not capture the complex range of economies within the developing world. It makes sense to distinguish between developing countries such as China and poorer, vulnerable nations when it comes to assisting them to adapt to climate change. China’s claim for access to new technology, regardless of patents, is part of its bargaining to receive help other than direct grants. Beijing has committed to reducing its carbon intensity by 40-45 per cent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels, but its refusal to agree to outside scrutiny runs counter to the spirit of a shared response to global warming. China was adamant again yesterday that it would “do its own checking”.

    In its 60th anniversary year, the People’s Republic of China has been debating its role as a political player in international affairs. During recent celebrations, English-language Chinese television was brimful of commentators navel-gazing about how the West perceived the new China. The big question was how to translate the increased economic power of China to a leadership role internationally. Beijing should see climate change as an opportunity to begin playing that global role, adopting a mature approach that recognises its responsibilities as a powerful developing nation.

    As the leaders gather for the showdown in Copenhagen, the US and China are looking to exert leverage on each other and the rest of the world. As US chief negotiator Todd Stern has made clear, the US will not do a deal unless “major developing countries (read China) step up”. Agreement at Copenhagen requires movement from many nations and cannot be achieved by the US and China alone. But without constructive engagement from China matched by leadership from the US, little will be accomplished.

    In the end, political reality, not science or street protests or justice for Tuvalu, will determine the result.