All over?

From the ABC:

China has told participants in the UN climate change talks that it sees no possibility of reaching an operational accord this week, an official involved in the Copenhagen talks says.

The official, who asked not to be identified by name, told Reuters that the Chinese had suggested instead issuing “a short political declaration of some sort”.

The statement from the world’s biggest polluter comes less than 24 hours before most world leaders are due to join the climate change talks in Copenhagen, where ministers and negotiators have made only modest progress at best.

Talks have been stalled by a widening rift between developing nations and the developed world.

Maybe everyone will go home and we can get on with enjoying Christmas.

Read it here.

Day 10

Penny Wong’s moment of glory has been marred by protesters who tried to interrupt her speech:

COPENHAGEN delegates clapped protesters who interrupted Climate Change Minister Penny Wong’s speech.

Senator Wong had just taken to the stage to speak to hundreds of world leaders and diplomats when two young chanting protesters brought proceedings to a halt.

The summit president tried to talk over the top of the yelling, an alarm and the applause, calling for the talks to proceed and the noise continued as Senator Wong walked to the podium.

In her introduction a seemingly unfazed Senator Wong said her speech might not be as exciting as the last intervention. (source)

You can sure say that again. And things are still not going well, according to the BBC:

Formal negotiations at the UN climate summit have ground to a halt following wrangles about what documents should be used as the basis for talks. Beneath the dispute lies a long-running accusation from developing countries that the Danish hosts are trying to sideline their concerns. Outside, police clashed with protesters who stormed barricades around Copenhagen’s Bella Centre.

Activists have been angered by lack of progress on a new climate deal. They also complained about restrictions on access to the talks. Police detained more than 240 protesters during the clashes, which led to injuries on both sides.

As well as the negotiations at the summit, a succession of presidents and prime ministers has been delivering set-piece speeches. Many illustrated the very different visions that exist of the deal that should emerge from this summit.

…

Earlier, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown conceded that a deal might not be achievable here. But, he added: “If you don’t get an agreement this week, people will doubt whether you can get an agreement at all.” (source)

Then there is the required daily dose of alarmism:

Global sea levels could rise by up to 9m in the next few hundred years, even if the world manages to stabilise average temperatures to 2C above pre-industrial levels, according to a new study.

In this scenario, hundreds of millions of people around the world would be affected as low low-lying coastal areas became inundated. New Orleans would be lost to the sea, much of southern Florida and Bangladesh and most of the Netherlands.

The 2C figure is significant because this is level of warming that is likely to be adopted as the threshold to be avoided by the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen – although small islands states and developing nations have argued that 1.5C would be a more appropriate target.

Nine metres of sea level rise is higher than anything predicted so far because the new study takes into account the potential that the Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets start to melt as the Earth warms. This did not factor into the most recent assessment of the state of climate science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007. It forecast a sea-level rise of up to 59cm by 2100, and between 4-6m in the next few hundred years, if average global temperatures stabilised around 2C. (source)

“In the next few hundred years”? Sounds like a non-story dressed up as a scare. But hey, this is The Guardian, after all. And the funniest news of the day? Greenpeace getting a taste of its own medicine:

How do you like it?

“Propaganda Warrior,” the huge banner proclaimed. CFACT activists sailed up long-side of the infamous Greenpeace vessel, Rainbow Warrior, and unfurled a banner which underscored how the radical green group’s policies and agenda are based on myths, lies, and exaggerations, and perpetuate poverty, disease and premature death in Third World countries. Earlier in the day, CFACT activists boarded “Arctic Sunrise” and unfurled a banner that read “Ship of Lies” off the starboard side.

“Greenpeace’s callous disregard for the truth and people’s well-being has become intolerable,” says Craig Rucker. “So we decided to take action.”

CFACT unfurled the banners for two reasons, CFACT president David Rothbard explained. “Greenpeace ships, like the Rainbow Warrior and Arctic Sunrise, have become global symbols for radical environmentalism, and we wanted to call attention to the harm these groups are causing. And second, it seemed appropriate to use one of Greenpeace’s own favorite tactics to make this point.”

…

“The continuing scandal over falsified and destroyed temperature data, manipulated climate models, and a perverted scientific and peer review process further demonstrates that there is no valid basis for this anti-energy, wealth-redistribution, global governance Copenhagen treaty,” says Rucker.

Anti-energy policies represent a “clear and present danger to the health and welfare of billions,” Rucker says. Mandates for wind and solar would send energy prices skyrocketing, sharply constrict economic opportunities and destroy jobs.

“People in developing countries simply want to improve their living standards, and give their children a chance to live past age five,” Rothbard says. “Greenpeace is diametrically opposed to giving them access to the modern technologies that would help them do that.” (source)

Priceless!

From Politiken.dk:

12:00 – Police have ordered the demonstration to disperse, making it illegal to continue and permitting the arrest of anyone refusing to follow police orders to stop the demonstration.

11:45 – There are tumultuous scenes in connection with the Climate Justice Action Bella Center demonstration as demonstrators attempt to force fences and police lines to get into the security area. Bottles have been lobbed at police lines. Police have warned demonstrators that the Bella Center is a security area and any attempt to get in will result in arrest.

In some cases police have drawn batons and used pepper spray and teargas. So far some 200 people are said to have been arrested.

Cycling activists in groups of 10 are attempting to cause confusion and get into the Bella Center area at different locations.

Some 50 delegates and activists from within the Bella Center have made their way out of the building to meet the demonstrators.

*****************

08:00 A demonstration has begun in Copenhagen in which activists are marching on the Bella Center to attempt to take over the COP15 Climate Summit for a period.

Activists convened at around 8 a.m. at Tårnby as police searched vehicles and demonstrators at various locations. The main demonstration will be marching from Tårnby Station by way of Englandsvej and Vejlands Allé, while an alternative activist demonstration will be taking another undisclosed route.

Hardly going to make the negotiation any easier…

Read it here.

Load of balls…

The noises emanating from COP15 don’t look particularly encouraging:

The United States has “gone ballistic” over draft texts being considered for a climate deal in Copenhagen, demanding last-minute changes which halted negotiations.

As talks dragged late into the early morning, the US moved to water down provisions over greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for developed countries.

With still no progress after 5am on Wednesday in Copenhagen, negotiators were under pressure to deliver something to ministers for the morning.

The late hour was illustrated on the official United Nations video by the sleeping form of a delegate, lying prone across seats, being visible as the Cook Islands delegate addressed the meeting.

Heads of state have already started sweeping into the Danish capital and a deal is scheduled to be agreed by Friday.

Lead negotiator Jonathan Pershing said the US had “substantial discomfort” with the language being used.

His country was seeking a different structure to the Kyoto Protocol agreement, he said, and countries should take action domestically rather than agree to an internationally agreed figure.

Read it here.

Copenhagen’s turning into a bit of a circus for all the crackpot world leaders. Their presence subtracts even more credibility from the whole proceedings.

E, ba gum!

Robert Mugabe

Harrassment of electoral observers in 2002 meant that Robert Mugabe was denied entry into the European Union – and it is only because the Climate Summit is a United Nations event that he is allowed to set foot on Danish soil.

During last year’s presidential election, some 80 political activists died and hundreds disappeared. Mugabe also contravened the electoral law to ensure a victory that no-one recognises.

I've done Jihad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iran’s president has done what he could to arouse the wrath of the Western world. He has been accused of cooking the presidential election and coming down hard on protesters. At least 20 people were killed and many put in prison.

The president has also let his anti-Israeli rhetoric be heard. At the United Nations conference Durban II he called Israel “the most evil and oppressive racist regime.”

Carry 'em off

Islam Karimov

Karimov’s regime in Uzbekistan has the habit of boiling its opponents to death – at least according to the memoirs of Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Tashkent from 2002 to 2004.

A demonstrable fact is that Karimov has run Uzbekistan ruthlessly since he declared the country independent in 1991. International human rights organisations say that Uzbekistan uses systematic torture and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe says last year’s presidential elections were unfair.

Lovely. Read it here.