"Copenhagen Accord" sets stage for climate action - but not everyone is convinced

by Carmelo Amalfi
THE 15th meeting of the United Nations climate change conference has ended with an agreement to raise the finance needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions in both developed and developing nations.
The "Copenhagen Accord" is supported by a majority of countries including the United States and China, the two biggest carbon polluters.
The agreement will establish a fighting fund expected to reach 30 billion US dollars over the next three years. Long-term finance by developed countries will collectively attract 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to help developing countries fight global warming.
"We have sealed the deal," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement released yesterday.
"This accord cannot be everything that everyone hoped for, but it is an essential beginning."
The Accord backs the scientific view that an increase in global temperature below two degrees Celcius will help take the sting out of the worst effects of climate change.
It specifies that industrialised countries will commit to implement economy-wide emissions targets from 2020.
These will be submitted to the UN before January 31, 2010.
Countries will communicate their efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions every two years.
Mitigation actions seeking international support will be recorded in a registry with details of relevant technology, finance and capacity building support from industrialised nations.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said the COP15 was a success despite the rollercoaster ride in negotiations over the past two weeks.
"The world walks away from Copenhagen with a deal," he said. "But clearly, ambitions to reduce emissions must be raised significantly if we are to hold the world to 2C."
Leaders plan to review the accord by 2015 and include long-term goals to limit the
global average temperature rise to 1.5C, which is the cap many African nations had argued for.
De Boer said heads of state and government intend to act promptly on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries.
A "Copenhagen Green Climate Fund" will be established to support immediate action on climate change. Governments also plan to establish a new technology mechanism to accelerate the development and transfer of technology.
In total, 119 world leaders attended the meeting, the biggest gathering of heads of
state and government in the history of the UN.
"Climate change is the permanent leadership challenge of our time," Ki-moon said.
"I therefore urge world leaders to remain engaged. We now have a package to work with and begin immediate action."
But de Boer said the agreement was at this stage, "a letter of intent", not a precise about what needs to be done in legal terms. In other words, COP15 failed to set in stone a legally binding accord that locked both rich and poor countries.
"So the challenge is now to turn what we have agreed politically in Copenhagen into something real, measurable and verifiable," he said.
The next UN climate change conference will be held next year in Mexico City, preceded by a two-week negotiating session in Bonn, Germany, between May 31 and June 11.
The European Parliament delegation to the COP15 also released a statement describing the Accord as a huge disappointment.
"The outcome and the procedure show an urgent need to reform the UN working method," European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek aid.
"Copenhagen will only be a first step. We must learn the lessons of how to improve the negotiating process. There are some positive elements to the agreement, but the EU should continue to put pressure on the rest of the world to reach a more ambitious agreement at a later stage."
Delegation head Jo Leinen said the agreement postponed climate change protection to a later date.
"The document lacks a long-term vision for 2050, nor have short-term targets for 2020 been laid down in the final document. The present commitments of industrialized countries will by no means meet the CO2 reduction requirements stated by the scientific panel of the United Nations."
MEPs said the worst aspect of the "Copenhagen Accord" is it did not not hold nations legally accountable for their actions.
"The US has failed to adapt its reduction targets to global needs. China has refused to sign a treaty with international obligations," he said.
Vice-chair Karl-Heinz Florenz added: "It is a slap in the face for the world. There has been a huge lack of trust during these negotiations.
"Some developing countries have been blocking without contributing in a positive manner to the text. For further negotiations it will be crucial to overcome this for the further negotiations."
Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he was satisfied a result had finally be achieved.
"Now nations will need to sign on, and if they do so, they will support what has been agreed to (in the Copenhagen Accord). This will have effect immediately."

What if we fail at Copenhagen? The world in 2100

by Carmelo Amalfi
“MADAME chair, you have the floor”
Thank you [UN president Michelle Gore].
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, citizens of Earth.
We open this conference, COP16, on the eve of a new century. Nearly 100 years ago this month, leaders of our world came together in Copenhagen to find a way to curb the greatest threat our planet faced, and still faces – climate change.
They failed. They failed the planet and they failed us despite so much hope, time and effort, the promise of a new world for more than six billion people faced with rising temperatures and expanding oceans.
My grandfather received the Nobel Prize for peace before he arrived in Copenhagen, his memoirs revealing his deep sorrow and regret at the lack of action and commitment by developed and developing nations.
Today, there are more than 21 billion people on the planet - a very different place to when our parents were children.
It is nearly five degrees Celcius warmer than 2010. The Arctic sea ice is gone. The Himalayan and Tibetan glaciers, which once fed the major water systems of some of the world’s poorest regions, have retreated. Antarctica, the last frontier where rich countries now exploit its deep reserves of fossil fuels, has lost a third of its ice cover.
Mauritius, the Maldives, once tourism treasures, and hundreds of once-populated islands in the Indonesian archipelago are gone while rising ocean levels have pushed most coastal communities inland.
Climate refugees flood detention centres around the world.
Indoor air pollution accounts for nearly half of all fatal acute respiratory infections in children under five years of age. The poor in India, which stood with those countries resisting global efforts to fight climate change, now loses an estimated four to five billion days of work each year because of sickness and ill health caused by malnutrition the spread of disease.
What pains me is the dramatic loss of so many of the world’s species, particularly fish, birds and mammals. The polar bears and penguins are extinct, their clones grown in “arks” established at zoos and special science parks.
Millions of people have died or been displaced by the impacts of global warming.
Millions more will follow. The African continent is a furnace and bushfires in Australia have become more frequent and devastating, causing major losses of human and animal life.
The Amazon forests have long been cleared and most of the world’s reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef, which once supported tourism, fishing and science have calcified - shells of their former beauty.
We come together today to take up where the last generation left off.
Faced with global recession and political unrest, our generation still wages war over water supplies and the air we breathe, the very things we as custodians of the planet were charged with protecting and preserving through adaptation and mitigation.
Flooding, fires and severe storms are commonplace and far more destructive than when I was a young girl.
The world has changed.
But it will not disappear, not unless we unite again to finish what our parents and grandparents began at the start of this century.
Consider this as you deliberate over the future of a planet too precious to abandon to dirty air, pollution and disease. Consider this as you discuss what those before us failed to achieve and what those after us will inherit. Please let us avoid a repeat of the past.
I declare COP16 open.

World powers seal “meaningful” deal on climate

by Carmelo Amalfi
COULD it be true?
Has Nobel Prize winning president Barack Obama helped seal a deal in Copenhagen?
According to a senior United States administration official, China, India and South Africa have reached a “meaningful agreement” on the last night of the COP15.
Described as a “first step”, he is quoted saying it was not enough to put a meaningful dent in the climate threat. But it was a start.
Details of the tentative deal are sketchy. It was reached Friday night at the United Nations climate conference after a meeting between Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma.
Obama had earlier said he did not come to talk, but to act as the world’s biggest economy and second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Under the "Copenhagen Accord", leaders have committed to the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
It sets a global temperature rise maximum of two degrees Celsius, possibly limiting this to 1.5C after a review in 2016.
The Copenhagen Accord says developed countries would commit collectively to providing 30 billion US dollars in additional funding for developing countries for the 2010 to 2012 period. By 2020, developed countries aimed to raise 100 billion dollars a year.
By 2050, developed countries also would commit to emissions cuts of at least 80 per cent.
But countries including Venezuela, Sudan and Tuvalu are said to oppose the new deal that would need unanimous backing to be adopted by the 193 nations at COP15.
Other nations including European Union states, Japan, the African Union and Alliance of Small Island States urged delegates to adopt the plan.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described the deal as, "a significant agreement on climate change action. It is the first global agreement on climate change action between rich nations and poor countries".
President Obama had promised the US would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020, “no matter what happens in Copenhagen”.
Nations have until the end of January 2010 to submit plans for curbs on emissions to the UN.
Environment groups criticised the hurried plan as ineffective because it was not a legally binding treaty.
"The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport," Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven said.
The comments follow nearly two weeks of bitter debate and walkouts by delegates and running battles between Danish police and protestors.

Call for climate change journalists to be protected

by Carmelo Amalfi
JOURNALISTS who investigate climate change increasingly are at risk of harm and even death from hostile governments and companies, according to media agencies at COP15.
The International Institute for Environment and Development, International Media Support, Internews and Reporters Without Borders called on delegates and world leaders to sign a global petition to better protect journalists under principle 10 of the Rio Declaration and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The group representing national and international media organisations called on countries to give journalists access to information they need to convey to the wider public complex issues such as global warming, pollution and deforestation.
International Media Support director Jesper Højberg said in the past three years 15 cases of threats and intimidation, imprisonment and deportations, had been linked directly to environmental issues including climate change.
“There is a need to focus on better protection of journalists, particularly environmental and climate journalists,” he said.
“Journalists live very dangerous lives exposing corruption, nepotism and negligence which obstruct efforts to protect the environment.”
Vincent Brossel, head of the Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders, said many of the countries attending the conference recognised the importance of empowering people to tackle climate change issues. But they could not do so with their hands tied.
“Without a free press, companies and governments will not be compelled to join the fight against climate change,” he said. “Journalists must be free to investigate.
“More and more are being harassed, some even killed for reporting on environmental issues.”
The media delegation said journalists investigating deforestation faced imprisonment and death in countries such as Cambodia, Philippines, India, Brazil and South Africa.
They said these countries say they are committed to fighting the causes of climate change yet it is journalists in their countries who were being persecuted.
Internews Earth Journalism Network global director James Fahn said climate change journalists faced similar dangers to covering the crime beat when covering pollution and illegal logging in countries such as Indonesia and Brazil.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, freelance journalists make up nearly 45 per cent of all journalists jailed around the world.
Half of all those in prison are online journalists.
In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, released last week, the Committee found a total of 136 reporters, editors and photojournalists behind bars on December 1 this year, an increase of 11 at the same time last year. The increase is due to 23 journalists jailed after a media crackdown in Iran.
“The rise of online journalism has opened the door to a new generation of reporters, but it also means they are vulnerable,” CPJ executive director Joel Simon said in a statement.

* Novaya Gazeta is an independent newspaper uncovering corruption and human rights abuses in Russia. Four of its journalists have been murdered. Other journalists on staff have been beaten, arrested and continue to be watched closely by the police
* Jila Baniyaghoub is an Iranian journalist who has been beaten, arrested and imprisoned for covering women's rights and State oppression
* Terry Gould is a freelance investigative journalist and author of ‘Murder without Borders: Dying for the Story in the World’s Most Dangerous Places’. His book examines the lives of seven journalists killed because of their work.

Stay in Copenhagen until the job is done!

Comment and analysis
by Johan Lidberg
FROM the outside, without inside access to the no doubt complex negotiations, the whole situation seems bizarre. Here we have a clear and present global danger to the future of mankind and our leaders are arguing over…money.
The rich world has become rich by creating the situation we are in now. So, the rich world should make amends by supplying sustainable energy technology to the developing world and help these countries adjust to a sustainable economic system. Apart from changing at home (which is needed too) this is by far the most effective way to take action on climate change.
Billionaire hedge fund manager, George Soros, suggested last week at COP15 that the rich countries should draw on some of the their billions that lie idle in the coffers of the International Monetary Fund. This is a good concrete suggestion, but as so many times before Soros is not listened to. He is dismissed because he is a hedge fund manager. This is unfortunate as he is not your average venture capitalist. He predicted the financial crisis. He has long been deeply critical of unregulated, runaway markets and predatory capitalism. He has spent hundreds of millions on supporting civil society via his Open Society Institute. The man deserves and should be listened to.
It seems like a big chunk of the world is screaming to the leaders of the rich countries: ‘just pay the damn money so we can get started!’. Eleven million plus signatures in the on-line action group Avaaz.org’s save Copenhagen petition sends a clear message.
“Petition to the 110 Presidents and Prime Ministers negotiating in Copenhagen:
"We call on each one of you to make the concessions necessary to meet your historic responsibility in this crisis. Rich countries must offer fair funding, and all countries must set ambitious targets on emissions. Do not leave Copenhagen without a fair, ambitious and binding deal that keeps the world safe from catastrophic global warming of 2 degrees.”
Allow me to add to the petition. The delegates should stay in Copenhagen and the conference should go on until a substantial agreement has been made. This is your job. Anything less will be a failure and you will have let those down that elected you and that put their trust in you.

Climate change "action hero" looks beyond COP15

by Carmelo Amalfi
CALIFORNIA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says the world will continue to pursue ways to curb global warming even if no resolution is reached at the Copenhagen conference.
"Technological and economic forces will overtake the political and regulatory efforts of governments," he told delegates at COP15.
"The world's governments alone cannot make progress. They need everyone working together."
Using his state as an example, Schwarzenegger said California - the seventh biggest economy in the world - and other countries had already embraced the green revolution.
"The power of influence we have is equivalent to that of a continent," the Austrian-born former Hollyood actor said.
"In California, we are proceeding with renewable energy and a cap and trade system to reduce greenhouse gases.
"Nearly 60 per cent of venture capital in the US flows to California, creating a critical mass of money and intellect to create new green technologies."
California was one of the first states in the US to commit to reducing greenhouse gases by 30 per cent to 1990 levels by 2020.
Schwarzenegger said he believed the world's business community will move to solar and wind and other alternative technologies much faster than most people expect.
He said developing countries will leapfrog into the green economy and skip the fossil fuel industry.
"We are beginning one of history's great transitions to build an economic foundation for the 21st century," he said.
"This conference is already a success."
He also offered to host a climate summit to continue the work achieved at COP15.

Rudd accused of lying to Australia on climate change

by Carmelo Amalfi
CHIEF negotiators in Copenhagen have accused Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of a climate change con.
Chinese delegates and Sudanese chairman of the G77 group representing 132 developing countries told reporters Mr Rudd was a liar.
Lumumba Di-Aping, who caused a political storm when he accused developed countries last week of drafting a secret deal to sideline the Kyoto Protocol, claimed the Australian Government was not genuine in its promise to fight climate change.
He said Mr Rudd’s message to people in Australia was, “a fabrication, it’s fiction”, when his promise at the last election was to join the Kyoto Protocol and global efforts to curb global warming.
“All what Australia has done so far is simply not good enough,” Di-Aping said, claiming Mr Rudd was trying to gain a strategic economic advantage by siding with the United States and European Union.
“Australia is committed to killing Kyoto,” he said.
Neither Mr Rudd nor Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, who are at COP15, have yet to comment.
Di-Aping’s claims precede the arrival of world leaders and heads of state in Copenhagen.
Mr Rudd told a news conference that his aim was to get the best possible agreement for Australia. That meant getting a genuine agreement between rich and poor nations that was, “the cheapest, the most effective, the most pro-jobs agreement possible”.
“Just as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is the cheapest most effective way to act on climate change locally, so too is an agreement here in Copenhagen the cheapest and most effective way to act globally,” he said.
Mr Rudd flew into Copenhagen without parliamentary approval of his carbon trade laws, stating the talks were at risk of failure unless there was a compromise between the developed and emerging economies of the world.
But he was confident a landmark deal could be endorsed by the end of the week when US president Barack Obama is expected to arrive.
“We have a fundamental national interest at stake in securing the strongest possible global agreement, because it affects Australia,” he said.

When push comes to shove in Copenhagen

by Katie Day, Sana Mazloum, Isabelle Tolhurst and Matt Whitby

HUNDREDS of protestors in Copenhagen at the weekend were arrested and detained by Danish police guarding roads leading to the United Nations climate change conference.
Masked youths clashed with riot police to voice their concerns over the lack of action so far at COP15.
Protestors not caught behind the police lines spent hours calling on police to release their comrades, chanting “let them go” to the beat of drums.
Copenhagen resident Anders Solem said the demonstration was “tame” compared to past protests: “Most of the troubles on the street were started by young people who are not really environmental activists but just angry kids who want to fight the police.”
Police refused to reveal the reason behind restricting the movement of what was largely a peaceful demonstration.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people gathered in the palace square at Christiansborg, calling for action to fight global warming by world leaders due to arrive this week.
The march ended at the COP15 venue at Bella Center, just outside the city, where activists held a candle-lit vigil late into the night.
Anti-capitalist group Not Your Business had tried to infiltrate several corporations at an organised demonstration starting at Nytorv and ending in a blockade on the city bridge.
Activists plan to try again after nearly 70 were arrested. Chanting “our climate, not your business”, they were stopped by police blockades.
Protestors threw cobblestones at the windows of the historic stock exchange and Foreign Ministry buildings.
Flares were set off as crowds ignored police calls to disperse.
Traffic also came to a standstill.
Police said bolt-cutters and gas masks were found during a search of a truck that led the demonstration. Only 13 of the 968 people detained during the mass rally remained in custody Sunday.
Reports say of those, three - including two Danes and a Frenchman - faced preliminary charges of fighting with police.
An estimated 40,000 people joined the mostly peaceful march toward the two-week conference which opened on December 7.
Observers criticised Danish laws that allowed police to make preventative arrests if they suspected a demonstration will turn violent and hold suspected troublemakers for up to 12 hours without a court arraignment.
The COP15 conference was suspended Sunday so police could sweep the area ahead of the arrival of world leaders, including American president Barack Obama and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
In Australia, climate change protesters scaled the Sydney Opera House and unfurled a banner saying, "Stop the politics, climate treaty now".
The protest is seen as an embarrassment for police after security was upgraded at the Opera House and Harbour Bridge because of the growing risk of a terrorist attack.

On your bike ... for climate change

by Ben O’Halloran
HE got lost in Mongolia, robbed twice in China and Turkey and suffered sunstroke in northern Australia.
After 18 months covering 22 countries and some of the world’s toughest terrain, Kim Nguyen, 28, has arrived in Denmark – on his bike.
Attending the climate change conference in Copenhagen, Kim said he was lucky to have arrived in one piece. He was hospitalised three times.
“The most difficult part of my journey was in northern Australia and South-East Asia because of the heat,” he said, having repaired 15 punctures on his 18,000km ride.
“The coldest was Belgrade when I rode through a storm.”
The social worker who wants to promote sustainable travel says he plans to sail back to Australia once he raises enough money.
Sporting a beard he grew from Istanbul to Copenhagen, Kim left Brisbane on August 10, 2008, arriving in the Danish capital to coincide with Ride Planet Earth’s global campaign to fight climate change.
Cyclists from around the world joined Kim on his epic trek through some of the most beautiful and inhospitable parts of the planet, riders in Copenhagen accompanying him through the Danish capital on the last leg to the conference.
Speaking at the alternative climate conference Klimaforum09, Kim hopes to address delegates attending COP15 and pass on messages from around the world.
He set up a blogsite so people could follow him on his journey to the conference.
Kim’s bike ride covered East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and eastern and central Europe.
On day 390 of his ride along the Black Sea Coast, just before entering Turkey back in September, he wrote: “A young man … reached his hand into my back pocket and tried to pull out my wallet. I turned, furious, realising suddenly the reason for his lurking presence behind me. I pushed and shoved him in the chest as he tried to slide into the crowd, surprised at my own aggression, with the vague idea of intimidating him into a life of legitimacy.”
Kim’s friend Mamuka urged the young rider to leave immediately: “That man is a bad man. He has said he will kill you. This is Georgia, this is not Australia.”
Read Kim’s blog at http://rideplanetearth.org.

Police prepare to defend climate change conference

by Ben O’Halloran
UP to 6000 police have converged on Copenhagen to crack down on violent activists threatening to gatecrash the UN conference on climate change.
The protests are expected to attract more than 60,000 people to the Bella Center venue to coincide with the arrival of world leaders at the weekend.
The Danish Government passed new laws in the lead-up to the two-week conference for police to arrest and detain people suspected of trying to enter the conference.
On Wednesday, police seized a cache of 200 makeshift shields, paint bombs and other equipment, including nine platforms with crude staircases, after a police raid on a building that city officials had provided as free housing for activists visiting the Danish capital during the international climate talks.
Police say the demonstrators, who will march the 7km from the Danish Parliament to the Bella Center, intended to use the stairs to climb the barricades erected outside the heavily secured centre.
Under the $122 million crackdown dubbed by activists as the “turmoil and riot” law, police can hold people for up to 40 days if they believe they will be a public threat.
Makeshift holding cells have been established in an abandoned warehouse in the city to cope with the anticipated number of arrests.
Copenhagen police coordinator Per Larsen said the heavy police presence was needed to keep the peace during the conference.
He believes the holding pens are not over the top, but a deterrent against activists who wanted to disrupt the peaceful meetings.
Climate Justice Action, a global group committed to fighting climate change, has said despite the heavy police presence, demonstrators will break into the conference and take over proceedings under the guise of a ‘peoples assembly’.
It believes the UN climate talks will not solve the climate crisis: “We are no closer to reducing greenhouse gas emissions than we were when international negotiations began 15 years ago.
“Emissions are rising faster than ever, while carbon trading allows climate criminals to pollute and profit. The talks are essentially legitimising a new colonialism that carves up of the world’s remaining resources.”
“In response to this madness, a global movement for climate justice has emerged to reclaim power over our future.”

Danish police issued a statement in the lead-up to the COP15 conference which states:
* in Denmark, people have freedom of speech and the freedom to assemble
* participants must be unarmed and demonstrations must not be violent
• demonstrations, processions, and public meetings must be reported to the police no later than 24 hours prior to their start
• unless attacked, the police can only intervene in demonstrations if the crowd has been ordered to disperse three times in the name of the Queen and the law
• it is prohibited to wear a hood or mask or paint your face when participating in public gatherings or demonstrations, in order not to be identified
• if violence or threats are aimed at policemen or other persons in public service, special and more stringent regulations apply
• it is prohibited to be in possession of knives and other weapons in public places. Violation of this rule can result in detention, imprisonment and expulsion
• police can carry out body searches of all citizens in certain areas in order to find weapons.

Obama called on to commit $200b to fight climate change

by Carmelo Amalfi
POOR countries yesterday called on the United States Congress to release $200 billion to fight climate change on the day President Barack Obama received the Nobel prize.
Sudanese delegate Lumumba Dia-Ping, who represents the G77 group of 132 developing countries including China, challenged the president to show leadership and
“We ask president Obama and the US to join the Kyoto Protocol because the world can’t achieve an equitable or a just deal that would save the planet without the participation of the United States,” he told reporters at the COP15.
“Global peace and security will be endangered without US participation in resolving this serious threat to humanity. This is the war we need to fight.”
Dia-Ping, who created controversy this week over the leaked Danish text, said the world had enough resources to address climate change in a more radical and substantial way.
“The US Congress has to be asked, you approve billions of dollars in defence budgets,” he said. “Can’t you approve $200 billion to save the world?” he said.
He said Obama must show leadership at a time of global crisis: “This is what we expect from him as a Nobel Prize winner and one of the advocates of new multiculturalism.
“That is what we expect of him as someone who is a member of both the developed and developing world - his extended family, his brothers, his cousins, his uncles are still in that continent (Africa) of which he is proud to be a member.”
European Union delegates said the amount of money Dia-Ping wanted the US to spend was more than the world spent on development assistance each year.
“To dish up that kind of money would be difficult,” they said.
President Obama said in his acceptance speech in Norway that US military leaders also understood the urgency of fighting climate change.
“There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, more famine, more mass displacement – all of which will fuel more conflict for decades,” he said. “It is not merely scientists and environmental activists who call for swift and forceful action, it’s military leaders in my own country and others who understand that our common security hangs in the balance.”

Kyoto Protocol will survive: UN climate chief

by Carmelo Amalfi
THE Kyoto Protocol will and must survive, United Nations climate official Yvo de Boer told reporters at COP15.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary said there was no good reason to abandon the protocol established in 1997.
“One reason is because it generally takes a little time for a new legal instrument to be ratified and to enter into force,” he said. “The Kyoto Protocol took eight years to enter into force.
“If there is an agreement on a new legal instrument under the convention, which I also expect, you can’t guarantee how quickly it will enter into force.”
The Kyoto Protocol, which aims to slow global greenhouse emission, ends in 2012.
The US, which is the world’s top polluter closely followed by China, has not signed up to the treaty.
US envoy to the talks in Copenhagen, Todd Stern, said on Wednesday that the US would not join, particularly if China was unwilling to sign up.
“The country whose emissions are going up dramatically is China and that’s the reason why we can’t have an agreement that doesn’t have a real commitment by China,” he said.
“You can’t even think about solving this problem without having a significant commitment by China.”
Mr Stern said American greenhouse gas emissions were “flattening out and they’re going to go down”.
He said China had an extraordinarily successful economy in a different stage of development to the US.
“Emissions are emissions, you just have to do the math,” he said. “This isn’t a matter of politics and morality or anything else.
“It’s just math. And you can’t get to the kind of reduction that we need globally if China is not a major player. That’s the reality.”
Chinese climate officials want the US to boost its commitment to cutting gas emissions, describing as unfair moves to set limits on nations that were still developing while emissions from developed countries were rising.
“Currently, the target is to reduce emissions by 17 percent from the 2005 level,” they said. “This figure cannot be regarded as remarkable or notable.”
China’s top climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said: “I do hope President Obama can bring a concrete contribution to Copenhagen.”
Mr Xie said China could accept a target of halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 if developed nations stepped up their emissions cutting targets by 2020.
Developing nations are asking for at least $US300 billion in financial support to help them deal with the impacts of climate change.

Police play down weekend protests in Copenhagen

by Katie Day
POLICE in Copenhagen do not expect violence at Saturday’s COP15 demonstrations in which up to 60,000 people are likely to voice their concerns over climate change.
Anti-capitalist group Never Trust A Cop says the true purpose of COP15 is to restore the legitimacy of global capitalism and is encouraging demonstrators to stay in the city near the hotels of COP15 delegates to ensure their protests are heard.
Police spokesman Henirek Fuhr, who is reluctant to disclose how many police will be present, said they were prepared for the Saturday demonstrations.
“We are prepared for the whole summit and that means we are prepared for the demonstration as well,” he said.
“We do know how many police will be out there but all I will say is that there will be enough.
“We expect no problems at the demonstration, but if they should occur then we will be ready for any problems that do arise.”
New laws passed for the demonstration will allow police to arrest people who can be imprisoned for up to 40 days for hindering police and resisting arrest.
“The change in law is that we now have the right to keep people in custody for 12 hours instead of 6 hours,” Fuhr said.
“If protesters are being disobedient in the street we can and will fine them up to 5000 kroner. That is only during the demonstration not on normal days.”
Several climate and green groups have organised a demonstration under the umbrella of The Global Day of Action.
Demonstration spokesperson Knud Vilby said organisers have cooperated fully with police to ensure a peaceful protest.
“There are a lot of logistics, we are cooperating with police and other organisations to ensure this is a peaceful family demonstration,” he said.
“We have been meeting with the Copenhagen police to discuss how to cooperate and how to handle any violence. It has been carefully planned, and we don’t expect any violent protesters.”
Vilby said that the Global Day of Action is not affiliated with the Never Trust a Cop demonstration.
“We are aware of Never Trust a Cop, they are not big and they are not associated with our peaceful demonstration,” he said. “We do not support them.”

Australia scores a green goal for World Cup in 2010

by Katie Day
THE Socceroos have scored a goal for climate change by agreeing to a UN plan to offset carbon emissions for travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Head of corporate and public affairs, Bonita Mersiades, said the team is fully supportive of the plan and committed to reducing emissions during the international tournament.
“We are strong supporters of FIFA’s move to support reduced carbon emissions for teams and fans,” she said. “We also feel it is important for host nations to look at ways to reduce their carbon emissions.”
More than half of the qualifying countries have committed or pledged to offset emissions travelling to and from South Africa.
They include Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Cote d'Ivoire, England, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Serbia, the United States, Uruguay and host South Africa.
Dorah Nteo, of South Africa’s Environment Department, told the conference air travel to South Africa equalled 67 per cent of the one-month event’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
UN Environment Program chief Achim Steiner did not want to wait for an international climate deal to start working towards cutting emissions among participating teams.
“There are only two things the world is pre-occupied with at the moment, climate change and the World Cup,” he said. “We want footballers to lead by example and not wait for an international deal to start cutting emissions.”
UNEP will help host cities in South Africa to cut their energy consumption by installing solar-powered and energy-efficient street lamps, traffic lights and billboards in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Polokwane, Rustenburg and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality.
The scheme is a partnership with the Global Environment Facility, which unites 179 member governments to address global environmental issues.
Up to have half a million fans are expected to attend the tournament and UNEP strongly encourages fans to offset their emissions as well.
“Fans have a choice through their airline to offset their emissions or they can find other ways,” Achim Steiner said. “My appeal to the fans that will travel to the World Cup is make yourselves part of the solution, then you won’t be part of the problem.”

New laws needed to design greener buildings: experts

by Matt Whitby
WORLD leaders attending COP15 have been urged to adopt tough regulations on the use of energy efficient buildings as a way of reducing carbon emissions.
A panel of experts hosted by Climate Consortium Denmark said the technology to reduce building energy emissions by 80 per cent was already available.
Senior energy policy advisor from the International Energy Agency Jens Laustsen says a 50 per cent reduction to building energy efficiency was reasonable and rational.
“We have the solutions now, we should start implementing energy efficiency and ensure it is part of a sustainable energy future,” he says.
Rockwool chief executive Eelco van Heel says he firmly supports government regulation to encourage energy efficiency standards despite business traditionally favouring liberal market policies. Rockwool is an insulation technology developer.
“We have the opportunity to reduce 460 million tonnes of CO2, save 270 billion Euros and create 500,000 jobs,” he says. “All we need is the politicians and the regulators to help us through this process.
“We have to accept that 70 per cent of the planet’s population will be living in cities by 2030. Buildings consume the most energy of any sector in the world and are a major emitter of CO2.”
Buildings are responsible for 40 per cent of energy use in the European Union and North America. China is growing to nearly 35 per cent. The International Energy Agency has found Australia's energy efficiency has improved at less than half the rate of other countries. The energy used by homes and commercial buildings in Australia accounts for about 20 per cent of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.
Over the next two decades, CO2 emissions from buildings will increase by about 50 per cent worldwide, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts.
The leader of the World Wildlife Fund’s Global Climate Initiative, Kim Carstensen, says financial incentives are needed to encourage energy efficiency standards.
“We need investment schemes to provide opportunity to help people make the right choices,” he says.
Mr Laustsen advocates the construction of zero emission buildings and even pointed out the possibility of private buildings being net producers of energy.
“Let’s produce the energy in buildings instead of consuming it,” he says. “Governments will be able to meet their CO2 reduction targets by making buildings more energy efficient. This potential is enormous.”

Group calls on conference to put food waste on menu

by Matt Whitby
ABOUT 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are created by producing food that no one eats, a food awareness group said at COP15 yesterday.
The founder of a group dedicated to raising awareness about food waste in Denmark says she is disappointed the topic is not on the agenda for politicians during the conference.
Graphic artist Selina Juul, who established the non-profit organisation Stop Spid Af Mad (Stop wasting food), says that the amount of food each Dane throws out each year costs around $1400.
“Food waste is very large problem in Denmark at the moment,” she says. “Every year the average Dane throws away 63 kilograms of good edible food away.”
Ms Juul says she is concerned the issue is not being discussed at COP15.
Stop Spild Af Mad has more than 3700 members, including politicians and leading Danish chefs.
Danish chef Bo Jakobsen works at Restaurationen, a downtown restaurant in Copenhagen.
Although not a member of Stop Spild Af Mad, he has strong opinions about food waste. He says the amount of food thrown away in the world is ‘morally disgusting’.
“Fifty percent of the food we produce in the world gets wasted,” he says.
“With millions of people around the world starving it’s just ridiculous.”
Ms Juul says preventing food waste is very easy and something everyone can do something about.
“It is a very simple problem which we all could contribute to fixing,” she says. “We don’t have to donate any money.
“The only thing we have to do is change our mindset, to only use the amount of food that we need, instead of just throwing the food away.”
Ms Juul says she wanted to see political decisions made to reduce the amount of waste.
“Things like building a network of donating good and fresh leftover food from companies, canteens and restaurants to homeless people,” she says.

Rich nations accused of carbon colonialism over leaked 'Danish text'

by Carmelo Amalfi
COPENHAGEN will be remembered as the city that failed the world if it adopts a secret deal to sideline UN efforts to fight climate change, according to the Sudanese chairman of the G77 group representing 132 developing countries including China.
Lumumba Di-Aping told reporters on a day of accusations and threats by some delegates to leave the COP15 that the leaked draft agreement would destroy the Kyoto protocol by proposing to hand over effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank.
“This text is an extremely dangerous document for developing countries,” he said. “It’s a total violation of the principles of transparency and openness.
“This text does not even mention a single proposal from the G77 member States.”
The document sets unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for both developed and developing countries in 2050. It is understood to include proposals by the UK, US and Denmark and has only been shown to a handful of countries.
Danish officials are trying to play down the significance of the paper which they describe as a draft document issued to, “a number of people for the purpose of consultations”.
Di-Aping called on the Danish prime minister Lars Rasmussen to distinguish between his political career and ambitions and the need for a successful deal.
“The prime minister is desperate for success at any price,” he said. “This text is an insult to the elected president of COP15 (Danish climate minister Connie Hedegaard) because this text comes from the office of the prime minister.”
Di-Aping said that US president Barack Obama should join the Kyoto Protocol: “Global peace and security is not served by isolation and exceptionalism.”
US delegation chief Todd Stern said in a briefing later in the day the US would not join.
“We are not going to do Kyoto and we are not going to do something that is Kyoto by another name,” the special envoy for climate change said.
Singapore youth delegate Amira Karim told the COP15 she was concerned at the move.
“You have proposed a new framework that will overturn the balance of obligations and responsibilities enshrined in the UN framework convention on climate change.
“You have erected barriers to exclude your peers from influencing their own futures and in turn have subverted the very principle of inclusions and equality at the heart of the UN.
“This imposition without discussion is tantamount to carbon colonialism, a profoundly destructive development that we the youth are compelled to condemn.
“All countries should uphold and enhance the Kyoto Protocol.”

Danish capital celebrates a carbon Christmas

by Ben O’Halloran
COPENHAGEN is a city of carbon contradictions.
As the host of the UN climate change conference, the Danish capital has gone out of its way to be environmentally friendly to the tens of thousands of visitors who are attending the COP15. Even the bikes are free during the conference.
But below the surface is a city largely dependent on dirty coal and, to a lesser extent, imported nuclear power.
Hoping to become the world’s first carbon neutral city by 2025, Copenhagen homes and offices at this time of year are dressed in tinsel and blinking lights.
Lots of lights.
So how green is Copenhagen?
With a population of about 1.1 million people, the city has enjoyed strong economic growth, Denmark boasting a GDP of more than $300 billion.
Fossil fuels account for 85 per cent of the country’s energy use, but the Government recognises the need to increase the use of alternative energy sources and plans to further reduce its carbon footprint by 2025.
In 2007, Denmark used more coal per capita than China, something Climate Change Minister Connie Hedegaard hopes to change.
Hedegaard, who is the president of COP15, wants to cut carbon emissions by 40 per cent to 1990 levels.
But while the Danes take a tough stance on nuclear energy, the country imports eight per cent of its energy from nuclear power sources.
The Government’s energy strategy also includes a renewable energy target of 30 per cent by 2025. Presently, about 15 per cent of the country’s total energy use comes from renewable sources, which supply 27 per cent of its electricity.
Denmark became one of the first countries to establish offshore wind farms, with up to 5500 wind turbines spread across the country. They produce 20 per cent of power in Denmark, which plans to increase this to 50 per cent by 2025.
Copenhagen also has more than 350km of bike paths used by 37 per cent of the city’s population. By 2015, about half of the city is expected to use bikes.
The low carbon message also adorns the public transport system. Train passengers on the Metro line to the COP15 cannot avoid the wall-to-wall Oceana posters which warn of impending doom for the world’s reefs, fish and shellfish.
‘The price of oysters in 2050 will total 350ppm of carbon dioxide,’ one poster warns.
The transport sector now accounts for about 25 per cent of Denmark’s carbon dioxide emissions. This is expected to increase over the next few years, having increased by more than 50 per cent over the past 20 years.
Copenhagen mayor Ritt Bjerregaard told the COP15 this week the city had adopted a range of energy efficiency measures to cut energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
“Next week, mayors from more than 70 cities will come to Copenhagen to stand side by side to fight climate change,” she said.
“Today, cities are responsible for 75 per cent of global CO2 emissions. Cities also contain 50 per cent of the world’s populations and some of the world’s largest economies.
“We may be part of the problem but we are definitely part of the solution.”
Bjerregaard said Copenhagen had 50 specific initiatives to achieve a 20 per cent cut in emissions by 2015.
It’s a good start.

Australian climate minister arrives in Danish capital

by Ben O’Halloran
AUSTRALIAN Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has arrived in Copenhagen to take part in negotiations over a new global climate treaty.
Wong left Australia yesterday, leaving in her wake a defeated ETS, emissions trading scheme, and a Liberal party in turmoil.
With no ETS, many believe Australia has lost any chance of playing a leading role at COP15.
Left to defend the loss of the ETS in the Senate, Wong suggests Australia will still go to Copenhagen with an ambitious emissions cut of up to 25 per cent.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has committed the Government to an emissions target of between five and 15 per cent.
The Opposition removed former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull over his support for Rudd’s amended ETS.
The new leader Tony Abbott has challenged Mr Rudd to a debate on the integrity of the science on which the ETS is based.
Mr Rudd has refused.
The Australian delegation also includes Australia’s new climate change department secretary, Martin Parkinson, deputy secretary and special envoy on climate change Howard Bamsey and ambassador for climate change, Louise Hand.
Mr Rudd is expected to arrive in Copenhagen next week.

Youth delegates want Australia to play a bigger role

by Carmelo Amalfi
THE world is in their hands.
Young people from around the world including Australia have converged on Copenhagen to ensure world leaders listen to their concerns over climate change.
Australian Youth Climate Coalition delegate Ellen Sandell said climate change was a big concern among young people.
“We’re the generation that will be most affected,” she said at the AYCC booth at COP15.
“We are here to put pressure on our government to come up with a fair agreement.”
Ms Sandell said Australia should play more of a leadership role, particularly in setting up practical targets to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Australia is the biggest capita producer of atmospheric pollution - about five times the per capita emissions of China.
“We need a 40 to 50 per cent cut by 2020,” she said. “The five to 15 per cent target which the Government has committed to is not enough.
“The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) said developed countries need to reduce emissions by 25 to 40 per cent if we are to have a 50:50 chance of avoiding a two degree increase in global temperatures.”
The AYCC is the biggest youth organisation in Australia consisting of about 30 national youth organisations representing students, indigenous Australians and professionals.
The growing coalition is a youth-run and youth-led organisation, with all staff, volunteers and steering committee members under 30 years of age.
Asked whether recent political events in Australia could jeopardise its efforts to highlight the need for a climate change deal, Ms Sandell said: “It’s a real shame what’s happened.
“I think the Liberal Party is completely out of touch, especially with young people.”
She said the federal election next year would test the parties’ commitment to fighting the biggest environmental problem facing the planet.
“It looks like climate change will be a major issue, we will make sure it’s the number one issue,” she said.
Young people have attended climate negotiations since the 1992 Rio Earth summit, their actions having resulted in widespread media coverage and mobilisation of thousands of people.
With financial support of the government of the Netherlands and input from YOUNGO, the UNFCCC secretariat has planned a series of events at COP15 to support youth engagement and contribution.
After the first official UNFCCC press conference on Monday, young people from around the world held up LEGO blocks stating “10 million people expect a fair, ambitious and binding” deal.
Fiji delegate Leah Wickham, 24, delivered the message to UNFCCC executive secretary Yvo de Boer and COP15 president Connie Hedegaard.
She broke down, calling on the heads of COP15 to save her generation with less talk and more action.
“I am here to fight for my identity, for my culture and for the right to exist,” she said. “I really hope the decision makers sign a deal that will mean that my children inherit a safe world,” she said. “All the hopes and dreams of my generation rest on Copenhagen.”