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.”