By S. T., on December 18th, 2009
The Guardian feels there is a 50-50 chance there will be a binding deal signed on Friday in Copenhagen. Temperaments and anxiety levels of diplomats and entire countries were analyzed.
Brown and Clinton yuk it up in Copenhagen
“So, deal or no deal? As 120 presidents and prime ministers sat down to eat at the Queen of Denmark’s palace in Copenhagen tonight, the chances of both appeared equally high. Or low.
Depending on your temperament, within 24 hours or so, the world will have a climate change agreement that should limit carbon emissions and restrict temperatures to a 2C rise; or the talks will fall apart and the chance of an agreement will be lost for ever.
Gordon Brown was upbeat, while the usually chipper climate secretary, Ed Miliband, was distinctly cooler. The Bangladeshi negotiators were optimistic, the Maldivians were anxious; China was saying nothing, and Poland was resisting the EU’s plans to increase its offer of emission cuts to 30%. Then European MEPs rode in to declare that the EU offer should be raised to 40% cuts.
Meanwhile, some people are anxiously and cautiously optimistic. Here is another person who sees a ray of light, the representative from the WWF. Just 24 hours to go and WWF’s Head of Delegation Kim Carstensen is feeling more optimistic than he did a day ago. (video after the break)
Continue Reading → 50-50 Chance of Climate Deal
By S. T., on November 8th, 2009
As UN Barcelona Talks Wrap Up, Yvo de Boer Says Climate Deal May Take Another Year. By Alex Morales, Bloomberg, November 6, 2009. “The deadline for 192 countries to complete a new global-warming accord may slip by as much as one year, as negotiators hold back on pledges to slash emissions or pay financial aid to poor nations. Yvo de Boer, the United Nations supervisor for climate talks, said 
yesterday in an interview that too little progress has been made to conclude a treaty at a summit in Copenhagen next month, and it may take another year. He spoke in Barcelona, where the final talks before Copenhagen end today. The most powerful nations are holding back their biggest cards in what envoys liken to game-playing. The U.S., the second-largest greenhouse-gas producer after China, won’t say how much aid it may offer. China has pledged no specific emissions goals. And Japanese and European delegates said they may not put concrete numbers for funding on the table until the two-week Danish summit is almost finished.”
EU Agrees on Financing Stance for Post Kyoto Treaty. Reuters, October 30, 2009. “European Union leaders agreed on an offer Friday to put on the table at global climate talks in Copenhagen in December after healing a rift over how to split the bill. Developing countries will need 100 billion euros ($148 billion) a year by 2020 to battle climate change, and 22-50 billion of this will have to come from the public purse in rich countries worldwide, rather than industry, leaders said. The two-day EU [Brussels] summit secured a complex negotiating mandate for the Copenhagen talks to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol… ‘We managed to reach an agreement on climate finance,’ Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said. ‘The EU now has a strong position in view of Copenhagen.’”
Continue Reading → Weekend Climate Politics News
