Copenhagen negotiators bicker and filibuster while the biosphere burns.
Copenhagen negotiators bicker and filibuster while the biosphere burns
George Monbiot despairs at the chaotic, disastrous denouement of a chaotic and disastrous climate summit
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- guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 December 2009 22.24 GMT
- Article history
A journalist reads the latest draft of the Copenhagen Accord at the climate summit. Photograph: Anja Niedringhaus/AP
First they put the planet in square brackets, now they have deleted it from the text. At the end it was no longer about saving the biosphere: it was just a matter of saving face. As the talks melted down, everything that might have made a new treaty worthwhile was scratched out. Any deal would do, as long as the negotiators could pretend they have achieved something. A clearer and less destructive treaty than the text that emerged would be a sheaf of blank paper, which every negotiating party solemnly sits down to sign.
This was the chaotic, disastrous denouement of a chaotic and disastrous summit. The event has been attended by historic levels of incompetence. Delegates arriving from the tropics spent 10 hours queueing in sub-zero temperatures without shelter, food or drink, let alone any explanation or announcement, before being turned away. Some people fainted from exposure; it’s surprising that no one died. The process of negotiation was just as obtuse: there was no evidence here of the innovative methods of dispute resolution developed recently by mediators and coaches, just the same old pig-headed wrestling.
Portion of the Final day Copenhagen addresses.
US president Barack Obama speaks on the podium during the plenary session at the climate summit in Copenhagen. Photograph: Anja Niedringhaus/AP
12.48pm:
Gordon Brown is still negotiating. “Have broken into small groups to try to break logjam,” Downing Street tweeted.
12.43pm:
Climate activists are urging supporters to bombard negotiators from the US, China, India and Russia with emails expressing their frustration.
12.40pm:
Could the talks stretch into the weekend? The UN has reportedly advised negotiators to extend their stays until Sunday night, the New York Times reports.
Vidtory for developing nations as rich countries abandon effort to kill off Kyoto
Victory for developing nations as rich countries abandon effort to kill off Kyoto
Copenhagen negotiations break through deadlock and will move forward on a two-track basis which maintains the integrity of the Kyoto protocol
- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 December 2009 14.50 GMT
- Article history
Algeria’s Kamel Djemouai (centre), who represents more than 50 African nations, speaks during a press conference. Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images
Rich nations have abandoned an attempt to kill off the Kyoto protocol in a last-gasp effort to salvage a deal at the climate change summit in Copenhagen.
Leaked UN report shows cuts offered at Copenhagen would lead to 3C rise
Leaked UN report shows cuts offered at Copenhagen would lead to 3C rise
UN secretariat initial draft shows gap of up to 4.2 gigatonnes of CO2 between present pledges and cuts required to limit rise to 2C
Read the UN analysis document here
- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 December 2009 18.03 GMT
- Article history
Nomadic Turkana pastoralists at a dried out dam in Kenya. A rise of 3C would mean up to 170 million more people suffering severe coastal floods and 550 million more at risk of hunger, according to the Stern review. Photograph: Stephen Morrison/EPA
The emissions cuts offered so far at the Copenhagen climate change summit would still lead to global temperatures rising by an average of 3C, according to a confidential UN analysis obtained by the Guardian.
US bids to break Copenhagen deadlock with support for $100bn climate fund
US bids to break Copenhagen deadlock with support for $100bn climate fund
Hillary Clinton pledges US support for a $100bn fund to help poor countries adapt to climate change providing their leaders sign up to a deal.
- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 December 2009 12.08 GMT
- Article history
US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said the US was ready to support a $100bn (£62bn) fund to shield poor countries from the ravages of climate change. Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images
The US moved to assert its leadership and save the UN climate talks in Copenhagen from collapse today, saying it was ready to support a $100bn (£62bn) fund to shield poor countries from the ravages of climate change.
But speaking at the conference, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, warned developing countries that the finances would only flow if their leaders signed up to a strong global warming deal at the summit.
Copenhagen : the sound of silence
Copenhagen: the sound of silence
Denmark’s reputation is being destroyed by police action outside the summit and the gagging of NGOs and poor nations inside
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 December 2009 17.30 GMT
- Article history
The problem the Danish government faces gets bigger by the hour. Clearly the government is desperate for the UN climate summit in Copenhagen to be seen as a success, regardless of whether the deal done is capable of slowing down climate change in a just way. But it is faced with an ever-swelling army of critics who believe this issue is too important for a stitched-up compromise, negotiated late at night between corporate lobbyists and rich-country governments in conference hotel rooms.
Faced with seemingly irreconcilable positions – between developed countries who won’t change their economic model and poor countries who realise that accepting the crumbs from the table is little use when faced with environmental devastation – any facade of consensus has broken down. Looking increasingly desperate, the authorities are trying to clamp down on all criticism in the hope that that will make it go away. In fact it is making it even more vocal.