Copenhagen Day Nine: final countdown
Sue Wheat
15th December 2009
With only three days left to conclude an agreement, the big guns have started arriving at the UN Climate Summit to try and give a much-needed shot in the arm to the deadlocked negotiations.
Yesterday it was Al Gore. Today, it was Prime Minister Gordon Brown, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Arnold Schwarznegger, Governor of California.
At a private gathering of delegates last night, Al Gore set a deadline of April 22 2010 – the 40th Earth Day - for President Obama and the Senate to pass climate change legislation. “What Obama has done in one year is a sea change compared to the previous eight years,” he said. “But should we do more? Yes, we are a large economy with a large energy consumption.”
Today a new draft text that could form the basis of an agreement was released. But the scale of the deadlock is apparent by the lack of any figures on emissions targets and timescales, and there was even talk that the text may have to be torn up completely and discussions to begin afresh.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Financial Times, Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the UN, conceded that a deal in Copenhagen might not include promised financial aid for developing countries.
Key European ministers paired off with their counterparts from developing nations to lead informal consultations on the main sticking points. Ed Miliband, the Climate Change Secretary, led the discussions on long-term financing for adaptation and mitigation with the Ghanaian minister, ahead of Gordon Brown’s arrival tonight.
The Prince of Wales tonight appealed to delegates to set aside national differences and agree a global warming accord before it is too late.
Delivering the keynote address as the talks formally entered their final phase, the Prince told ministers and world leaders that “with your signatures, you can write our future”.
“But this is an historic moment. I can only appeal to you to listen to the cries of those who are already suffering from the impact of climate change.
“Just as mankind had the power to push the world to the brink so, too, do we have the power to bring it back into balance. You have been called to positions of responsibility at this critical time.
“The eyes of the world are upon you and it is no understatement to say that, with your signatures, you can write our future.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that “three years of effort have come down to three days of action. Let us not falter in the home stretch. No one will get everything they want in this negotiation”.
One element to the talks that many environmentalists will be pleased about is the dropping of Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) by the UN-backed Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) . CCS is the capturing of carbon dioxide at coal-fired power plants in order to store it underground. The UK and US are the chief advocates of the technology, which is criticised by environmentalists as being unproven, untested and likely to be dangerous.
International activists are planning a march to the Bella Centre tomorrow to set up a ‘People’s Assembly’ inside the UN – supported by and in support of many developing nations’ spokespeople. They too are hoping they can give world leaders greater clarity of purpose and commitment.
Coverage of the protests by the world’s media should be assured – numbers allowed into the Bella Centre have been cut and journalists and NGO representatives have turned into ‘climate talks refugees’ standing for hours in freezing temperatures shouting ‘Let us in!’ at the security barriers.