Copenhagen, Dec 16, 2009

Today John Kerry announced that he would only stay in Copenhagen for one day, as he needs to return to the U.S. quickly to cast his vote on the health care bill. However necessary, this can only add to the growing perception the U.S. is not putting forth the needed level of commitment to complete a climate agreement in the remaining two days of the conference.

In this short excerpt from a press conference here at the COP 15, Kerry makes a case for U.S. Energy Independence. This statement, like much of his presentation, seemed to be targeted more to his American audience than to the COP 15.

‘COPENHAGEN — Police officers used pepper spray and wielded batons on Wednesday to beat back hundreds of demonstrators outside the global climate meeting here, as a police spokesman said 250 people had been arrested.’

via Police Beat Back Massed Climate Protesters – NYTimes.com.

‘The Climate Justice Action’s German spokesman Tadzio Müller has been arrested immediately after holding a news conference at the COP15 Climate Summit venue at the Bella Center.’

via COP15: Police arrest CJA leader – Politiken.dk.

Copenhagen, Dec 16, 2009

Protesters momentarily interrupted the proceedings in the plenary hall with chants of “climate justice now”. Many in the plenary showed support for the protesters, applauding while the chanting continued until the next speaker stepped up to the podium.

Copenhagen, Dec 16, 2009

Today the Bella Center Metro stop was shut down in an attempt by police to prevent demonstrators, now adopting decentralized tactics, from reaching the Bella Center and trying to set up a ‘People’s Assembly’ inside. Here demonstrator Stellan Vinthagen, PhD, of the University of Gotherburn, Sweden, speaks about the protests. Stellan’s comments are followed by a brief view showing the COP 15 participants entering the Bella Center after making their way back form the next station.

Report by James George

Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen will replace Connie Hedegaard as President of the COP, who resigned after a short time in the post. The reasoning given to explain this change is somewhat hard to follow. From a press release:

“As a consequence of the unprecedented number of Heads of State and Government who have started to arrive in Copenhagen to participate in climate negotiations, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen will, from the beginning of the High-Level Segment, take the chair as president of the COP and the COP/CMP.”

Copenhagen, December 15, 2009

In an impassioned speech at the COP 15 today, Al Gore pushed for a successful political outcome in Copenhagen, to be followed by a final legal agreement in Mexico city in June or July next year. Although he said he was open to other price mechanisms for carbon, he argued that a globally coordinated carbon tax would be far more complicated than cap and trade.

Gore also proposed making the 40th anniversary of the first Earthday to be set as the final deadline for the passage of a U.S. climate bill.

report by James George

Copenhagen, Dec 15 2009.

Today star power was invoked to add additional momentum for an agreement in Copenhagen with the appearance of California’s movie star climate friendly governor. His jovial attitude was well received, obviously a welcome change of pace for those in the packed hall.

In a possible preemptive attempt to soften the blow from what could be a weak or even non-agreement conclusion to the COP 15 negotiations, Schwarzenegger redefined the meaning of success in Copenhagen, scaling dramatically back from the goal of a legally binding emissions reduction agreement to “the ability to think again”. He then pitched the idea of a U.N. climate summit for the region level which could be held in California.

“And perhaps the real success of Copenhagen is to give us the opportunity to think differently again. Perhaps the success comes in realizing that something different needs to be done and in fact is already being done. It is being done on the sub-national level. And I would ask the U.N. to convene a climate summit like Copenhagen, but for cities, for states, for provinces, and for regions. And would be more than happy to host such a summit in California – or anywhere else the U.N. wants to hold it, but I recommend strongly in California. People like coming to California, love our state.”

Copenhagen, Dec 15, 2009

There was a press conference today on Nigerian rainforests and REDD:

“More than 90% of Nigeria’s rainforest is gone. The remaining 10% of Nigeria’s rain forest is found in the south of Nigeria, and over half of what is left is only found in cross river states. The rate of deforestation across Nigeria as a whole but Southern Nigeria in particular, is 2% a year, and that is one of the highest rates of deforestation anywhere in the world. And I think over 55% of Nigeria’s carbon emissions come from deforestation, far outweighing Nigeria’s carbon emissions from transport or from industry or any other form, so REDD and addressing land use change is actually critical for Nigeria bringing down its emissions.”

“And I think, if the rate of deforestation continue unchecked, we could see the disappearance of cross river states rainforests within the next 10 to 15 years maximum. ”

“The overall size of the forest – about 800,000 hectares of tropical rainforest.”

Report by James George

The Copenhagen Theme song (Secret of the Seasons) by John Ungerleider has been set to video clips from COP 15 and the Copenhagen climate march.