Conference of Parties 15, Day 11

On the final day of negotiations, NGOs were once again excluded from the conference center. We spent the day at the Forum NGO space following the developments on the inside. We only had access to the open sessions and press conferences televised online and in the NGO space. Heads of State statements continued throughout the day, along with various press conferences. Our rapidly expanding email inboxes informed us of deliberations but our knowledge was limited to what was shared.

President Barrack Obama's brief appearance at COP caused quite a stir. In his address, he discussed the urgency at hand and the U.S. motivation to take action on climate change. The speech was clearly tailored for an American audience, as evidence by the idioms and buzzwords used. However, many of the points made were rejected by the developing world and decried as greenwashing.

Our intelligence on the inside informed us of closed door meetings between the President and the leaders of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. Rumors of an agreement emerged mid-day but it was unclear what the nature of the agreement was. We were given an indication that the outcome would be weak when Venezuela and Bolivia hijacked the press conference room to share their concerns. Though the time was slotted for another coalition, Hugo Chavez made his grievances known before dramatically leaving the negotiations.

As early drafts of the Copenhagen Accord were leaked, it became clear that the outcome would be disappointing. Though the Accord evolved minutely over the course of the day and evening, nothing substantive was said. Countries were outraged that select nations conducted closed door meetings, completely ignoring protocol and transparency. The unfortunately reality was apparent--this would be the only progress made at COP15, the rest of the world could take it or leave it. In response, the international community "noted" the existence of the US-proposed Copenhagen Accord. With both working groups due to expire in 2009 (the deadline of all of their work...), the AWG-LCA and AWG-KP were extended for another year. Party delegations worked through the night to Saturday morning, scrambling to salvage all of their former work and progress.

Though the vague and weak outcome of Copenhagen was not incredibly surprising, it was still very disappointing. All those involved in the effort, both on the ground and abroad, were discouraged by this underhanded move. Two years of work and compromise was ignored in favor of a "politically convenient" alternative. Though certainly better than nothing, the Accord made no tangible commitments. The document favored weaker targets over the new scientific consensus for 1.5 degree limit to global temperature rise. Additionally, the Accord ignored the demands of small island developing states and least developed countries for a legally binding outcome. The general malaise throughout the city was obvious. Delegates could be easily distinguished--head hanging, muttering see you at COP16 in Mexico City.

Conference of Parties 15, Day 10

Due to limits on civil society, we are following the negotiations from the outside. The UNFCCC set up an alternative NGO space at Forum with a capacity of 5,000. When 34,000 have been displaced, one would think that more than 30 people would utilize the space...However, when it was officially announced that NGOs would be excluded from the negotiations, many made their own arrangements for outside venues. The NGO space at Forum has free, reliable wireless and large screens playing televised segments of the talks. However, it is not the same.

Though NGOs are not permitted to attend closed meetings at the conference, information is disseminated quickly within the Bella Center. As the daily programme changes significantly over the course of the day, word of mouth and CCTV monitors are the best sources of agenda changes. We are trying to keep up with developments via email but receiving hundreds of emails a day for the past few weeks is tiresome.

The Heads of State statements continued from yesterday, 10 am to midnight. The screens at Forum alternated coverage between these speeches and various press conferences. When Heads of State say nothing of substance and repeat the same empty lines, it is hard to see how ideological rifts can be bridged in the remaining days/hours. The real business is happening behind closed doors. Our communications with the few NGO representatives left inside the Bella Center report that progress is slow; it may actually be regressing. Notably, the United States has bracketed a significant portion of the text that was formerly unbracketed (bracketed text is under discussion, unbracketed is agreed). Delegates have a long night ahead of them...

Conference of Parties 15, Day 9

Wednesday would be my last day at the Bella Center due to the restrictions on NGOs. As the high-level briefings are underway, many of the sessions are closed to the public or require yet another access pass. A few of us went to Tycho Brahe to watch the last open plenaries before the high-levels resumed. The COP which was scheduled first never took place. We thought little of this and waited for an hour for the CMP plenary to begin. Apparently party delegates from Brazil, India, and several other countries were prevented from entering the building due to the complications with security. South Africa on behalf of the G77 and China stated that the COP/CMP texts were in no shape to present to ministers. They requested one more day of technical work. This sentiment was supported by India, Philippines, China, Algeria, Senegal and Oman. Sweden interjected to say that the text is well developed with a great deal of options and brackets. Technical work has been exhausted in several areas; it is now time for political work and bargaining. Connie hastily suspended the plenary so that the high-level segment of the programme could proceed. She then resigned as President of the COP. Danish PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen assumed the Presidency and Connie was appointed as a "special representative" to oversee the negotiations. It was quickly added that a new Danish text will be made available which was based largely on the LCA and KP texts as negotiated.

The audience was in shock. First there was silence, followed by an explosion of exclamations from the floor. Lars attempted to begin the high-levels but Brazil interrupted with a point of order. The delegate from Brazil asked why the COP plenary never took place as scheduled and when they would see the new LCA text (delegates worked all night through 7 am in LCA contact groups). The Executive Secretary responded that the COP Plenary would begin at 1 pm. China supported Brazil in its concerns, adding that this is a grave issue. It violates the trust between countries, particularly between host countries and all other parties. This lack of transparency will have grave consequences. For a host country to put forward a new text shows that it does not respect parties. India and South Africa reiterated these sentiments. The delegate from the Maldives (whom I'm pretty sure was President Nasheed) said that though he understands the concerns of Brazil, China, and India, negotiations must continue after years of work. Lars attempted several times to resume the high-level segment of the programme but was interrupted by the same parties. After nearly an hour delay, Heads of State began their statements.

With the late start and drama of the morning, no one asked if we were authorized to be in the room (which we were not). Nafie Ali Nafie, Assistant to the President of Sudan, began the high-level segment with a speech on behalf of the G77 and China. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, made a statement on behalf of the African Group. Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada, spoke for the Association of Small Island States. The position of Least developed countries was present by Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili, Prime Minister of Lesotho. Sweden's Minister for the Environment, Andreas Carlgren, spoke on behalf of the European Union and Penny Wong, Australian Minister for Climate Change and Water, spoke for the Unbrella Group. These coalition speeches included the positions and demands for an outcome at Copenhagen. The statements continued with the positions of individual countries: President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade, President of Mali Amadou Toumani Touré, President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez Frias, and President of Surname Runaldo Ronald Venetian. The Heads of State speeches ranged. Most were very predicatable--the threat of climate change, how it is already affecting their country, their demands and reductions targets (if applicable). The President of Senegal talked about what "great" things they are already doing to be green. Many of the projects were not very ambitious or progressive, some were actually harmful to the environment. Hugo Chávez was by far the most amusing. He is seriously crazy. Though some of the things he said were meant as jokes, other equally humorous statements were completely serious. A few highlights include jokes taking a jab at developed countries: “If the climate was a bank, the world would have already saved it.” More outrageous were his rants: "There is a ghost lurking; it is silent in this room, a terrible ghost. Nobody wants to identify this ghost….it is capitalism." He speech drew lots of laughs, some in amusement, some in awkward discomfort. It was truly outrageous.

While we were inside the plenary hall, apparently a riot was taking place outside. It has been reported that 4,000 protesters marched outside Bella in a campaign to "Reclaim Power." Organized by anarachist groups, the march intended to disrupt the negotiations--no deal is better than a bad deal. Hundreds of delegates inside the conference staged a "walk out," joining the rioters outside. Apparently the demonstration cause quite a disturbance both inside the conference and outside. As the media reported, the protests were broken up by the Danish police by sometimes violent means. We were in plenary when we found out what was going on and only saw what was going on outside from what was shared on the internet. Thursday, NGO presence will be restricted even further. After the riots the Secretariat was prepared to completely exclude civil society from the remainder of the negotiations. David Turnbull, Director of CAN International, met with the Secretariat and was able to raise the NGO presence to 300 individuals. NGOs will now be operating from bases outside of the conference center, so much for transparency...

Conference of Parties 15, Day 8

Tuesday was the first day of the secondary badge system. We arrived early to get through security before the line became impossibly long. We heard that in the early afternoon the registration and security lines had become so overwhelming that they closed the Bella Center to further entry. People with both their identification badge AND a secondary pass were denied access.

Fortunately we were inside long before any of the complications to entry began. I attended a morning contact group of the AWG-LCA where a new text was presented. The new LCA draft was far more vague than the original chair text presented on Friday. Most of the mitigation section (already extremely vague and weak) had been removed from the text entirely and replaced by brackets "[to be elaborated]." It felt as though we were regressing in the negotiations. The CAN mitigation group worked furiously to draft a one-pager on the addtions/changes/deletions from the original text and what provisions needed to be added/changed/removed from the beginning. We had one hour to analyze and compare the texts and to draft this one-pager which we handed to party delegates as they entered the LCA contact group at 3pm.

Despite reduced numbers in the Bella Center, things were still busy. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Al Gore were both speaking at COP. (I chose the ticket for Al over Arnold.) However, two other SustainUS delegates and I were selected to receive tickets to attend the High-Level Opening Ceremony. The Opening Ceremony held in the Tycho Brahe Plenary room featured speeches from Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, COP President Connie Hedegaard, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer, Prince Charles, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai. All of the speeches were encouraging and motivating (other than Prince Charles who was unimpressive). This was much needed as the stop and go negotiations, walk-outs, and limits on NGOs all contributed to grim expectations. Ban Ki-moon and Wangari Maathai were particularly inspiring; however, there's no need to present these lofty ambitions when preaching to the choir. We want action and progress.

Conference of Parties 15, Day 7

Week two at COP saw the arrival of even more representatives from civil society. The UNFCCC had accredited 34,000 people, a large proportion of whom were trying to register on Monday. The UNFCCC did not have the resources or organizational infrastructure to accommodate such a large number of people. (Not to mention that that Bella Center has a max capacity of 15,000). Needless to say, this turned into a logistical nightmare.

We were lucky that we had registered the previous week. Though we had to wait in the cold for a bit in order to go through security, it was nothing compared to those who were registering. People were in line, outside in the cold, for hours. Some people I spoke to gave up after 4 hours, others stuck it out longer. The freezing temperatures are not small thing. Week two we received a good deal of snow in Copenhagen.

We found out this week that in order to deal with the unprecedented number of accredited members of civil society that a system of secondary badges would be instituted for the rest of the week. Each NGO received a fixed number of passes for Tuesday and Wednesday, about 1/4 of their total delegation. Civil society was outraged that the UNFCCC was restricting the voices of NGOs and the public. Why would the UN accredit over twice the number of people that the conference center could accommodate? As Ministers and Heads of States are expected to arrive mid-week, Thursday and Friday will be restricted even further for the high-level segment of COP. Possible numbers of total NGO secondary passes for Thursday and Friday have ranged from 500, 300, 90, to zero. Such a limit has never been imposed on the presence of civil society in the negotiations--all are out-raged and concerned.

Monday morning I sat in on a briefing with Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC. It was interesting to see Dr. Pachauri speak in such a small setting but nothing groundbreaking was shared in the briefing. I left the Bella Center in the afternoon to venture into the cold/snow. The Alliance to Save Energy hosted an event "From Paradox to Paradigm: The Role of Energy Efficiency in Creating Low-Carbon Economies." The event featured businessmen and environment specialists from several organizations and companies seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. Speakers included MEPs, CEOs, and Energy/Environment Directors from Rockwool International, Siemens, Honeywell, Schneider Electric Denmark, and Google...not to mention, one of my bosses at the U.S. Green Building Council. It was very interesting to hear how companies are beginning to see energy efficiency as a business opportunity. A major component in addressing climate change is the development of a green economy, in which energy efficiency and green buildings play a huge role.

After the event, I caught up with two of my bosses from USGBC and headed back to the Bella Center. COP President Connie Hedegaard gave a briefing to civil society about the state of negotiations. However, eager to resume the COP, the briefing was cut short. Following some work with the CAN mitigation group, I sat in the KP contact group on numbers until I gave up for the night around 10:30 PM.

Conference of Parties 15, Day 6

On Saturday, both the COP and the CMP resumed their sessions. The COP plenary began with an introduction from COP15 President Connie Hedegaard. Tuvalu interjected before she finished her statement, asking if the forum could return to its agenda issue from a few days ago. The party delegate from Tuvalu gave an impassioned speech about the imperative to adopt a legally binding treaty as soon as possible. The delegate from Tuvalu was nearly moved to tears at one point, “The fate of my country rests in your hands.” Tuvalu received sustained applause. The speech was incredibly moving and definitely the highlight of the day.

The plenary continued with a statement by AWG-LCA chair John Ashe. The previous day he submitted a 5-page draft text which simplified the former version of 181 pages. The general consensus from both countries and NGOs was that the text was positive progress but that it was incomplete.

The afternoon CMP session began with AWG-KP chair Michael Zammit Cutajar. He too had submitted a draft text the previous day. The 27-page text was also viewed as a step in the right direction; however, parties had more concerns over the provisions of the KP text than the LCA one.

Little was resolved in the first week of negotiations. Next week high-level meetings commence upon the arrival of Ministers and Heads of State. The negotiations will have to accelerate if the text is going to be finalized by the end of the week, which we sincerely hope will happen.

Conference of Parties 15, Day 5

The Association of Small Island States officially released its draft text of a Copenhagen Agreement this morning. The proposal called for strong emissions reductions in order to ensure the safety of island citizens and the future of their homes. With each of the circulating coalition texts there are some strong disagreements. From levels of emissions mitigation to the role of developed and developing nations, little compromise was made in week one.

The chairs of both the AWG-LCA and AWG-KP proposed new drafts of the negotiating text. The separate drafts in the two tracks are significantly shorter than the original version in the Bali Action plan. There is concern that the texts incorporates the concerns of some countries and coalitions and overlooks the interests of others. The texts also leave out critical provisions such as the peak year of emissions, the possibility of a five-year commitment period, and more. We will see how the countries respond to the text and move forward with negotiations.