Guest blogged by Desi Doyen
As we noted in yesterday’s Green News Report, President Obama is in Copenhagen today at the U.N. climate summit, in an attempt to broker a deal at the historic conference which has been stalled in efforts to reach an international agreement on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
It appears his efforts have paid off: MSNBC is reporting that a U.S. official says Obama has brokered a “meaningful agreement” agreement with China, India, and South Africa to move the talks forward.
The talks have been deadlocked over emissions targets, and how reductions will be verified, with China balking at allowing international audits of progress. Obama was originally scheduled to return to the U.S. today after his speech, but canceled his trip in order to enter into intensive high-level negotiations with other world leaders.
LIVE UPDATES ON THIS DEVELOPING STORY FOLLOW BELOW…
UPDATE 1:49pm PT: The New York Times has obtained a statement from a U.S. official, calling the current agreement insufficient to combat the projected effects of climate change, but “an important first step” [typos in original]:
No country is entirely satisfied with each element but this is a meaningful and historic step forward and a foundation from which to make further progress.
UPDATE @ 2:10pm PT: AP: U.S., others broker climate deal at U.N. summit; Plan includes way to verify reduction in global warming emissions
UPDATE @ 2:36pm PT: President Obama spoke at a press conference before leaving Copenhagen on Friday night. He acknowledged that agreement is not legally binding and further negotiations will be required in 2010. The Washington Post has a copy of the draft agreement, called The Copenhagen Accord [.pdf].
UPDATE @ 2:46pm PT: The President has left the building … and Copenhagen. After the press conference, the President boarded Air Force One and is on the way back to Washington, D.C. in advance of a severe winter storm projected to dump up to two feet of snow on the nation’s capitol.
In broad strokes: while expectations had been scaled back prior to the conference, the accord reached tonight in Copenhagen drops any talk of a deadline to achieve a legally binding agreement among nations in 2010, which means it could be years of further negotiations before a legally enforceable agreement is reached. The proposal also does not include overall emissions targets or deadlines reductions.
The talks had been stalled on the specifics of what’s being called “MRV” for short: actions by individual countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are “measurable, reportable, verifiable”. In today’s accord, however, both developed and developing countries will now list their specific actions and commitments, and includes a provision to verify reductions — including China, which had previously refused any deal that required international audits. Agreement was also reached on a mechanism to finance adaptation for poorer nations who will bear the brunt of climate change.
The nations also agreed to take actions to prevent the Earth’s temperature from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius. One of the most contentious issues in the divide between the U.S. and China appears to have been addressed: the accord contains provisions that will require countries, including China, to provide information on the implementation of their actions (“reportable”), and be subject to international review and analysis (“verifiable”).
The 2 degree Celsius limit was previously agreed upon in earlier negotiations. Delegates from low-lying island nations and least-developed countries, which will bear the brunt of climate change, had called for a target limit of 1.5C degrees, but their calls were rejected as unrealistic, given the current political climate. Although specific targets were not established in the newly-brokered proposal, a U.N. document leaked yesterday at the conference concluded that current pledges from countries to reduce their emissions would add up to a 3 degree Celsius global temperature rise, which scientists say could have very unpleasant consequences.
The Guardian has posted a quick chart of the projected effects at different temperature scenarios. It’s important to note that while there is much uncertainty in making future predictions in such a complex system, scientists stress that the uncertainty cuts both ways: while the effects may be less than projected, they could also be much more.
Dramatic details emerged as U.S. officials told the NY Times:
Later, at the press conference immediately following the announcement, the president acknowledged, “We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.” Speaking of the lack of a legally binding agreement, he stated, “”If we just waited for that, we’d not make any progress.”
Environmental groups reacted swiftly to the announcement, with some calling the announcement no great ‘breakthrough’, charging that it essentially keeps to the targets countries had already announced prior to the conference. Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope tonight called the agreement “incomplete”: “Tonight’s announcement is but a first step and much work remains to be done in the days and months ahead in order to seal a final international climate deal that is fair, binding, and ambitious. It is imperative that negotiations resume as soon as possible.†Pope went on to say in a statement that “the rest of the world paid a steep price here in Copenhagen because of obstructionism in the United States Senate,” referring to climate and clean energy legislation currently stalled in the Senate.
UPDATE @ 4:12pm PT: The not-yet-final text has not been adopted by the European Council, and the poorest countries in the G77.
UPDATE @ 4:56pm PT: Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones is on the ground at the conference in Copenhagen, reporting via Twitter @Kate_Sheppard: “OK sounding like EU, Brazil, Mexico are in. What the African nations are going to say (other than South Africa) is not clear.”
UPDATE @ 9:12pm PT: Deal or No Deal? Kate Sheppard and David Corn of Mother Jones, on the ground and pulling an all-nighter in Copenhagen, have an excellent rundown of the proceedings leading up to the accord, and whether it is the real deal or not: “Obama’s Copenhagen Deal”.
FINAL UPDATE @ 10:07pm PT: Reuters boils down the major points: “FACTBOX: Main points of the Copenhagen Accord”.
The conference continues — it’s now after 7am Saturday local Copenhagen time, with everyone visibly and audibly tired, but they’re not finished yet. You can watch the proceedings live (and via archive) at the U.N.’s live webcast site. Or check out the twitter feed from Dave Roberts of Grist — he’s tweeting the play-by-play of each nation’s remarks at the conference. Scroll through his tweets to get a bullet-point overview of the proceedings (plus a fair bit o’ snark).
REALLY FINAL UPDATE @ 10:04am Saturday: The U.N. conference, after 31 straight hours of negotiations, was finally gavelled to a close mid-morning on Saturday without reaching any binding agreement, and without targets or timetables for emissions reductions.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon declared in the final plenary that the conference would officially “take note” of The Copenhagen Accord, the last-minute deal sketched out by Obama and five major nations (the BASIC countries: Brazil, South Africa, India, China), after a handful of countries objected to the document (Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, and Sudan). The accord document was “approved” with countries in support of it listed at the top, but not “adopted”. All provisions of the Accord will apply to countries that sign onto it.
In a nutshell, “noting” the accord officially activates components of the accord that would otherwise remain dormant, namely the two international aid initiatives that would provide $30 billion in short-term funding and $100 billion in long-term funding, respectively, for adaptation and mitigation to the least-developed countries and island nations that will bear the brunt of climate change.
Secretary General Ban called the murky end of the conference “just a beginning”, and characterized the contentious talks as a critical step in reaching a legally binding agreement in 2010 — even though an official deadline of 2010 was ultimately removed from draft texts.
U.N. Deputy Secretary Robert Orr, in response to reporters’ questions, called the accord a key step that advances climate negotiations and maintains momentum. Orr noted that he had personally never observed world leaders directly involved in negotiations. He characterized the contentious negotiations as a natural evolution of the talks, now that international climate negotiations have, for the first time, moved out of the realm of the rhetorical and theoretical, and into actions that will have actual, real-world consequences.
Some further coverage:
NYT: U.N. Climate Talks ‘Take Note’ of Accord Backed by U.S.
Guardian UK: Low targets, goals dropped: Copenhagen ends in failure: Deal thrashed out at talks condemned as climate change scepticism in action
Climate Progress: Obama Hits the Reset Button on the Foundations of International Climate Agreements: A move away from developed vs. developing countries to major emitters and everyone else. But there is still a lot of work to be done and a question remains whether this is the right forum for a climate agreement.
NYT Dot Earth blog: Scenes from a Climate Floor Fight
The Vine Blog: Was Copenhagen A Disaster Or Decent First Step?: Among environmentalists, there seem to be two emerging schools of thought on the tentative deal that was just struck in Copenhagen.
Inhofe made his appearance, was called ridiculous by Der Spiegel reporter.
http://rawstory.com/2009/12/youre-ridiculous-inhofe/
Real People Will Pay Price of a Copenhagen Stalemate
I don’t know. Here’s Naomi Klein’s take on what was going on in Copenhagen.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/18
Between her reporting, McKibben’s, and others I’ve been reading I’m very much doubting that anything we came up with is anything to shake a very unhealthy planet at. Or to expect a good result from. Or even remotely near what’s required to avert disaster.
Bullshit.
It’s been leaked over the week that the proposed cuts add up to a minimum 770ppm COâ‚‚ – over double what is safe – and a minimum 5.4 degree Fahrenheit increase in global temperatures – utter devastation for life as we know it – and this “historic” agreement with other big emitters instead of all the countries of earth is nothing more than the Danish Text that was already found wholly unacceptable last week. Goody, if we get to verify each other emitting too much COâ‚‚….
Aren’t we tired of bending each other’s minds over this crap yet?
WHEN do we cut to the chase and ACT on what we know, despite politics, despite money, despite the mindfuckers cranking out this bullshit?
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2009/12/Energy-Engineering-Bacteria-To-Turn-Carbon-Dioxide-Into-Liquid-Fuel/
Politics can’t solve this. Political compromises don’t get this done. If you insist that politics is the only way to address this, we all might as well shut up and go home. “Politically feasible” is not a resort to some kind of maddeningly-slow solution. Mentioning it is admitting you will settle for hassling your way to the next mass extinction event.
The point is: We solve this or die. And that means, fuck politics, get it done.
Oh, you have to take your emphasis off bombing the snot out of Middle Easterners? Oh, you mean Exxon-Mobil dries up? Oh, you mean it may cause us to have to detour from capitalism for a little while?
Yes.
Is this too deep for the Climate Justice Movement as well as the denizens of D.C.? Do you mean we have been working on this for sixty years and people still don’t grasp the bottom line?
Yes.
I gotta catch the bastard who keeps spiking my coffee with acid.
Good coverage. Democracy Now!’s coverage today had many illuminating perspectives. Overall, I was struck by Hoyer and Markey speaking about how the US target, while lame, can be exceeded if we get on the right path. After reading your post, I feel like I’m not the only one who, while critical of the US role, recognizes this as a step forward.
I don’t think we can underestimate the importance of the accountability provision. We don’t have time to mess around with fraud and nonsense. Any emissions and cuts made by countries (and benefits to the carbon cycle in forests and ag) need to be properly quantified.
Getting that small group of large countries on the same page is a big deal. Helping poor nations will be easier than curbing the big ones in the medium term, and we must never lose sight of their struggle for climate justice, including the rights of indigenous peoples.
Breitbart is reaching for his high blood pressure medicine.
I’d like to know what percentage of USA emissions are caused by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ll bet it’s substantial.
Okay, back-of-envelope time:
I think the wars account for about 1.7% of USA fuel usage, based on http://www.energybulletin.net/node/13199 and http://science.howstuffworks.com/us-gas-addiction.htm
If you believe that Obama “burst into a meeting of the Chinese, Indian and Brazilian leaders,” you’re utterly delusional.
Desi misspelled “Obama helps corporations shake down everyone in Copenhagen.”
I would have thought you’d had enough of Lucy’s “Pass this crap NOW!… we’ll fix it later!” routine, eh Charlie Brown?
Sure it’ll be fixed up later… fixed so as to not inconvenience the oligarchs in the slightest.
And humanity dies because corporations are mindless behemoths operating under a plutocratic oligarchy that has fed themselves nothing but self-serving bullshit all their lives.
Obama serves them, not you, not humanity… the oligarchs.
The most he will do that might benefit the rest of us is to think about occasionally restraining the worst of the corporations self-destructive impulses… maybe… but since he toes the corporate line as passed down from above he often doesn’t see the most destructive examples of corporate stupidity as anything worth bothering about.
Much less the liberal lefty dirty fucking hippy overreation to a warm spell.
Obama says anything at all to placate the “left” and then goes and does the corporates bidding.
And that is exactly what he’s doing here.
Just read some more of the critiques of this “breakthrough” over at Rawstory.
I never had any great hopes of Obama being our saviour and had set the bar pretty low for expectations, but I did hold out some hope that maybe he’d surprise me and live up to the excitement and promise of his campaign. At least in some regard. Wow. He’s terrible. Really terrible. Just terrible. It’s betrayal after betrayal. Wall Street over Main Street. Transparency? Fuck you. A nation of laws? Fuck you. We’re not going to prosecute war criminals, or the guys that legalized torture, or illegal spying on Americans, or outing CIA agents, or help Don Siegelman, or look into Sibel Edmonds allegations, or honor FOIA requests, and on and on. Abandoning torture? Fuck you. Release the photos we said we were going to release? No changed our minds. Why? Because it’s not a good idea. So stop bugging us about the photos. But what about holding anybody accountable? Gotta look forward. With our fucking eyes closed. Closing Guantanamo? Fuck you again. It’s harder than it looks. Habeas Corpus? Fuck me. Health care? Fuck everybody. Climate change? Fuck the world. Noble Peace Prize? War is good, war is great, go war!!!.
The health of the planet. The health of the planet. He’s not even going to bat for the health of the planet. And he’s got the nerve to stand up there and say this is momentous. I’m actually hating this guy. I had tremendously admired, at least, his campaign and the enormity of his achievement of being elected. Maybe that is the one thing he was actually capable of doing.
He’s way more corporatist than not. And we just don’t have the time.
zap, if you’re trying to get me to fall in love with you, you’re doing one hell of a fine job of it….
We need a leadership, and policing on global issues. Such organisation cannot be done in a few days. However it van be done now that the is a majority in commitment for the first time.
Global problems like poverty, overfishing oceans, nuclear & insolvent bandid states can be dealt with in the same way. Now the majority of world leaders wants to take responsiblity and pay. This majoriry of leadership is new. After alle it would have been worthwile to act on bandid states some time ago. The differece of a little responsibility now and the cost in a few decades is huge.
Brutarius @ #10:
Well, apparently NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and staffers at the White House are utterly delusional. See this rather bizarre story from Rachel Maddow on Friday night’s show: http://bit.ly/5zIBgh
Check out the press scrum story Maddow covers next, about how Chinese officials attempted to block American press pool from entering the room…
Hmmm….. Obviously this is a dissapointing result (as a green carbon not-for-profit – this affects my livelihood as well as my kids) but there is little doubt that it is a step forward. Christ knows how they will settle all the points of difference but bear in mind it was only a year ago that major emitters like India werent even at the negotiating table. Its easy to criticise leaders like Obama but the reality is that, as a democracy, they can only propose what they can get through the senate – a few years ago america denied climate change was real. You cant build rome in a day, no matter how urgent the situation is. Surely its just a matter of time before the rhetoric becomes legally binding. What is needed now is a process that carries the momentum forward so that no more time is wasted… As far as corporate interests go, there is little doubt that manufactuing giants like china will be the eventual big winners from a strong climate change deal (since green technology infrastructure would go into mass-production). Innovators like america and australia could gain just as much if they werent so blinded by conservativism.
It’s final: No deal!
Epic failure. The summit in Nopenhagen ends without a signed documents. Developing nations revolted against the strongarming by G22. The main responsibility for this new low in interntional negotiations lies with president Obama, who waited too long to weigh in, and then offered too little, too late. No hope, no change.
“major emitters like India”? WHAT? India has three times as much people than the US, and a much smaller carbon footprint per capita! The US have been THE major offender for decades, and instead of finally doing something decisive for the climate, they engage in fingerpointing at developing nations. That’s ridiculous! Stop seraching for excuses, and lead with ACTIONS. Then others will follow. But spare us your hypocrisy.
“despite the mindfuckers cranking out this bullshit?”
The “mindfuckers” run the show ,99 you are a clever person .What aspect of current world events do you know to be true ?
1)The War on Terror
2)The War on Drugs
3)USA election results
4)911 story
5)The state of the economy
6)Unemployment figures
7)The Bailout
8)Health reform
9)America’s support of Israel’s war crimes
10)The use of torture as a useful tool
11)Iran’s nuclear WEAPON ambitions
12)Obama’s entitlement of the Nobel Peace Prize
Blah Blah Blah
They have to have control taken away from them, Mick, or we’re dead… our species and many more….
Why do “terrorist” always kill innocents and never the “top guys” the ones that do the damage…unless the “terrorist” attacks are mostly false flags like 911.
My theory, Mick, is that there hasn’t been a real terrorist in decades, or that all the real ones don’t realize they’re working for us… however you want to define “us” there. It’s just that when you start looking into it deeply, there doesn’t seem to be any other cogent explanation for it…. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but suddenly we have stuff on guys we never had stuff on in the last administration… or so they say… and, well, they only kill top guys when the other top guys want them to. That ought to be plain by now.
Forget Iraq, we need to just pull out of china. Bring Our Goods Home! That will shorten the amount of emmisions used. Keep in mind the world is ending soon in some politician’s minds.
Here’s the equivalent each country s pollutant outputs compared to the US
http://www.sightline.org/maps/maps/Climate-StAggrEmissions
Change my ass….
Corporate lobbyists at the Copenhagen summit..
*US Chamber of Commerce
“This American giant of a business federation has more than 3 million business members, including Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil and Duke Energy. Some of its prominent members, including Apple, Nike and Pacific Gas and Electric have left in protest against its climate policy, and its lobbying position against the US Waxman-Markey bill on climate change. The Chamber has threatened a lawsuit to challenge the science behind climate change.”
*American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) This is an Orwellian name for a group of coal energy producers…dead set on keeping things as they are.
See also: http://www.angrymermaid.org/accce
European lobbying groups…
*”European Chemicals Industry Council (CEFIC)
Cefic is the European Chemicals Industry Council, which represents the main players in the European chemical arena, including Arkema, BASF, Bayer, Dow, DuPont, ExxonMobil chemical, Shell Chemicals and Solvay. Its working group on climate change is led by Arkema´s Nick Campbell, who also leads the climate working groups of BusinessEurope (see above) and the International Chamber of Commerce”
*Eurelectric: “Eurelectric is the European association of electricity companies. Members include major climate change polluters such as Vattenfall, Enel, E.ON, RWE and DONG Energy. Power companies have made windfall profits (look for figure)i´ll send you later as a result of the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) – receiving permits to pollute for free, while passing the theoretical costs on to the consumers.”
That’s ust the tip of the greedy/dirty pile of dung at Copenhagen; the folks who are dead set against any climate change agreements or legiaslation.
Lobbyists also include…
*Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN)
“The Australian Industry Greenhouse Network is a coalition of the heaviest polluters in Australia , including the Australian divisions of Shell, Rio Tinto, Exxon Mobil and BP as well as industry associations. It is widely known as the Greenhouse Mafia.” (gotta love the Orwellian name)
Brazilian Climate Alliance (same type of Orwellian name)…same purpose, to keep polluting corporations from responsibility.
Confederation of Danish Industry, Nippon Keidanren…and many more representing the world’s greatest polluters
World class corporate arm twisters bent on keeping things exactly as they are.
We’re fucked…
Copenhagen has failed. The UN has failed to address the most important crisis in human history. This is now the time for sanctions, boycotts and embargoes. A new alliance is needed. An alliance of hope and peace and justice must be built to oppose the axis of pollution, extinction and self destruction.
http://www.selfdestructivebastards.com/2009/12/beyond-copenhagen.html
I suspect we’re fucked due to a lack of imagination on the part of our “leaders” and the mindless, ass sucking, shit spewing, fuck ass puking media keeping us all just stupid enough for self-extinction.(Can you tell I’m a little upset?) The planet’ll throw us off and recover in time.
That said, I’m all for continuing the fight cuz what else can you do and dancing and making music and love while we do.
I also want to thank all you knucklehead regulars here at the Brad. I actually hate computers cuz their most significant function is the capacity they give us mindless humans to blow up the world and I don’t see what trumps that on the side of good, NEVERTHELESS, I weirdly feel like I’m part of some little strange, wild, loving, busting for change, family here and even if that’s only in my own mind it gives me a measure of comfort. Thanks to everyone. Special thanks to you Brad for creating this space for us.
much love,
Dave
Gray @ #18: ‘“major emitters like India”? WHAT? India has three times as much people than the US, and a much smaller carbon footprint per capita! The US have been THE major offender for decades, and instead of finally doing something decisive for the climate, they engage in fingerpointing at developing nations. That’s ridiculous! Stop seraching for excuses, and lead with ACTIONS. Then others will follow. But spare us your hypocrisy.
In point of fact, India is now the fourth largest emitter in the world, after China, the U.S., and Russia. In it’s 2008 World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency projected that 97% of future emissions growth through 2030 will come from booming developing economies, three quarters of that from China, India, and the Middle East.
You are correct that U.S. emissions per capita remain the highest in the world [on edit, actually, Australia has the highest emissions per capita, U.S. is a close second], and dwarf all other countries. But even though the U.S. and Europe are responsible for historic emissions, the Pew Center for Global Climate Change makes the point that the world will be unable to achieve the significant reductions in emissions required to avoid catastrophic climate change if developing powerhouses do not also reduce their emissions growth in the coming years. Although it is unfair for developing countries who did not create this problem, the scientific reality of the consequences of CO2 emissions growth projections — no matter where the source — is unfortunately non-negotiable.
COMMENT #21 [Permalink]
… mick said on 12/19/2009 @ 3:16 am PT…
Why do “terrorist” always kill innocents and never the “top guys” the ones that do the damage…unless the “terrorist” attacks are mostly false flags like 911.
A terrorist never killed a politician. I noticed that, too. And you’d think they’d be the ones they’d be after, that’s what’s really peculiar.
It’s very hopeful for developing countries like Bangladesh that the negotiation about climate change has been started. The developed countries who are responsible for this change they should take steps for its remedy immediately.
Ok america its time to stop listening to anything and start aying attention to your country’s demise. america is about to go down the tubes and unless we the people, yeah the ones who are suposed to be incharge here, don’t stop worrying about reality tv and start focusing on reality your life, we will all end up slaves of the Chinese. The only crissi in the world is the facing America that is bnas been created by the progressive liberals and is being propetuated by them. Unless we the people take control by what ever means possible we will lose our greta nation and the only hope the world has of ever knowing real peace and prosperity. No where else can you dream of being rich. Of owning your home or business. Only here is the rule law supposed to mean something and not the rule of some at whim of some dictator or religious fantatic. Only here does the average man have a chance of knowing equality and freedom, but no for long. The progressive with their front man OBama are doing all they can to destory America. to run it in to the ground while they stuff their own pockets. PLease America wake up and take back your country. Think about what your children will have to live through. Sharing the wealth that the progressive preach is a lie. They only wnat to share your wealth while they keep increasing theirs. The laws that Congress keeps passing even though the people don’t want these laws exempt them from having to be subjected to them. The laws no longer apply to them only to the average American. They are not subject to the new taxes or health care, or the carbon tax only we the people are. It has to stop! we have to stop it! we have to stop the greed and the corruption in Washington and take back our country doing away with those who think they above the law and more important than those they were elected to represent. Wake up America before they enslave you and your children. Wake Up!
Clifftheedge @31
Don’t have a teabagger rally to organize ?
Shouldn’t you be looking for Obama’s birth certificate or something…
You state..
What *liberals* might those be ? Have any of Obama’s decisions been liberal ?
Just what ‘liberal’ policy has put this country in crisis…?
I ask you who ran the country for 8 years prior to Obama ?
Who ran congress for 12 years till 2006 ?
President Obama….
Now you’re really pissing me off…
An excerpt…
Count me in the pissed offed category…
Bluehawk, the only thing that the Dems will see if they lose the next election is that they weren’t “conservative” enough in their policy making because that is how the Corporate media will frame it. It’s a lose lose for us libs. Truth my hind quarter, only money matters anymore.
Money is truth… and I mean that in the most Orwellian way….
… Agent 99 said…
So the Senate is actually the Ministry of Truth?
Yer so quick, zap! It is indeed, and they just now got their sixty votes to pass that increase in our chocolate rations! More non-healthcare for all….