COP15 quietly addressing other half of the emissions problem

While all media attention is on carbon dioxide, negotiators have not forgotten the greenhouse gases that are believed to constitute the other half of man’s contribution to global warming.
Morten Andersen - 14/12/2009 - Changes in countries’ positions on reducing their emissions of carbon dioxide are widely reported on an almost daily basis. In contrast, five other substances also meant to be regulated under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are seldom mentioned. This is a bit strange, as they together account for a manmade contribution to climate change just as big as that of carbon dioxide. And for some of these substances, a reduction in emissions would yield fast results.

“We can eliminate – not just cut – one of the six greenhouse gases this week. This can buy us more than a decade of delay (against the worst effects of climate change),” Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, tells The Los Angeles Times.

Three substances are currently in focus. These are methane which is released from coal mines, landfills and agriculture; black carbon, which is soot from incompletely burned fossil fuels and biomass; and hydrofluorocarbon chemicals (HFCs) which are widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners – especially since the so called CFC’s were banned by the Montreal Protocol due to their harmful effect on Earth’s protective ozone layer.

According to The Los Angeles Times, reducing these substances would be especially appealing to small island states that are acutely in danger of disappearing as the effect would be faster compared to that of carbon dioxide reductions. For example, black carbon stays in the atmosphere for only a few weeks, while carbon dioxide stays for many decades. Thus, action on black carbon would yield fast results.

Also, the HFC's seem an attractive target as the success of the Montreal Protocol shows it is achievable to ban this type of chemicals at an affordable cost – estimated at 2.4 billion US dollars in total, which is cheap compared to the amounts needed to reduce carbon dioxide levels.

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Poor countries agree to resume climate talks

The European Union says poor countries have stopped their boycott of climate change negotiations at Copenhagen and have found a solution to their dispute with rich nations.

14/12/2009 - Poor countries ended a temporary boycott of the UN climate talks Monday after getting assurances that rich nations were not conspiring to reduce their commitments to cutting greenhouse gases, European officials said.

Informal talks resolved the impasse between rich and poor nations and ended the daylong boycott, which was started by African countries and backed by 135 developing countries including China and India.

The boycott disrupted efforts to forge a pact on global warming, delaying the frantic work of negotiators who are trying to resolve technical issues before more than 110 world leaders arrive in Copenhagen later in the week. It appeared aimed at shifting the focus of the UN climate talks to the responsibilities of industrial countries and making greenhouse gas emission cuts the first item for the leaders to discuss.

Andreas Carlgren, the European Union environment spokesman, said both rich and poor nations "found a reasonable solution." Developing countries agreed to return to all negotiating groups that they had abandoned earlier Monday, said Anders Frandsen, a spokesman for conference president Connie Hedegaard of Denmark.

The developing countries want to extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which imposed penalties on rich nations if they did not comply with its strict emissions limits but made no such binding demands on developing nations.

"We are really prepared to discuss all issues in the negotiations. It means also absolutely all issues under the Kyoto Protocol," Carlgren said.

The dispute came as the conference entered its second and critical week. Poor countries, supported by China, said Hedegaard had raised suspicion that the conference was likely to kill the Kyoto Protocol.

The United States had withdrawn from Kyoto over concerns that it would harm the US economy and that China, India and other major greenhouse gas emitters were not required to take action. China is now the world's largest greenhouse gas polluter.

"We are seeing the death of the Kyoto Protocol," said Djemouai Kamel of Algeria, the head of the 50-nation Africa group.

It was the second time African envoys have disrupted the climate talks. At the last round of negotiations in November, the African bloc forced a one-day suspension until wealthy countries agreed to spell out what steps they will take to reduce emissions.
"They are trying to put the pressure on" before Obama and other world leaders arrive, said Gustavo Silva-Chavez of the Environmental Defense Fund. "They want to make sure that developed countries are not left off the hook."

Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the dispute was a setback to negotiations.

"We have lost some time. There is no doubt about that," Prentice said. "It is not particularly helpful, but all in all it is our responsibility to get on with it and continue to negotiate."

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UN: Don't leave tough climate issues to leadersSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon is warning that if negotiators at the climate change conference in Copenhagen leave the tough issues to global leaders to resolve the world risks having a weak deal or no deal.

14/12/2009 - Ban appealed to negotiators to redouble their efforts, stop posturing or blaming others, and reach a compromise.

He told reporters Monday before flying to Copenhagen that he is reasonably optimistic the UN conference will end with a politically binding deal that is fair, comprehensive and equitable.

Ban said there is strong support among the 192 UN member states for 10 billion US dollars in fast-track, short-term funding to help developing countries deal with climate change starting in 2010.

He said he will be urging agreement on longer-term and a larger financial support package up to 2020 and beyond to help developing nations cope with global warming.

Miliband: Get your act together

The British Climate Change Secretary says that the climate negotiations are moving too slowly and urges environment ministers to leave only few issues behind to be resolved by world leaders.
Marianne Bom - 14/12/2009 - Environment ministers must ''get their act together'' to prepare a deal for world leaders to sign at the end of the week, UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said Monday.

Environment ministers from all over the world have now arrived at the ongoing UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, and Ed Miliband urged his colleagues to leave only few issues behind to be resolved by heads of state and government.

''I've always said the leaders' role in this process is incredibly important to get the final pieces of the jigsaw in place. But what we cannot do is leave a whole slew of issues to leaders,” Miliband said, according to The Telegraph.

''I think that the very clear message for negotiators and ministers is that we need to get our act together and take action to resolve some of the outstanding issues that we face… We're now getting close to midnight in this negotiation and we need to act like it.“

In an explanation of why the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will arrive two days early to Copenhagen, Miliband said: “It’s a sign that negotiations are moving too slowly. He can play a very important role in brokering and negotiating key issues but frankly it’s up to negotiators and ministers not to leave everything to the leaders.”

Ed Miliband stressed two important outstanding issues: “There are two outstanding issues that I think all countries face, frankly, in this, which is whether we are willing to stand behind our commitments and say that we're going to do what we promise and, secondly, the precise system of monitoring, reporting and verification to make sure people actually follow through on what they promise.''

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