On Thursday morning, delegates made their way through a snow-covered landscape to the Bella Center, many of them increasingly concerned about the “precious little time” remaining to reach agreement in Copenhagen on a “vast amount of difficult issues,” but nevertheless still clinging to the hope of “sealing the deal”

on Friday at a historic moment in the fight against climate change.

As they arrived, many noted that the large exhibit area leading to the meeting rooms felt “eerily empty” – not filled with energetic youth as usual. This was because strict limits had been placed on the number of observers allowed in the Bella Center. Echoes of their voices were, however, still being heard: many NGO stands in the exhibit area displayed the messages “civil society has been removed from the negotiations” and “how can you decide about us without us.”

The halls of the Bella Center still felt crowded, however: the artistic protests and large number of youthful faces were replaced by members of the press lugging television cameras and lighting equipment through the halls as well as large security details for VIPs. A number of the world’s leaders with their entourages were also spotted rushing through the corridors as Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, Felipe Calderón, Evo Morales, Gordon Brown, Hugo Chavez, Kevin Rudd, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Evans Atta-Mills, Hillary Clinton and many, many others gathered in the Bella Center. “Now we really are at the center of the world’s attention – I do hope we will be able to live up to the great hopes and expectations,”

commented one negotiator.

A positive step in that direction was taken as negotiations at the expert level resumed after the COP and COP/MOP plenaries were given assurances from COP President Rasmussen that work would be transparent and based on texts forwarded by the AWG-LCA and AWG-KP. Several informal drafting groups thus convened throughout the day, and late into the night. The high-level segment and national statements taking place all day and late into night in the main plenary hall were being shown on CCTV throughout the center. Most had large groups of people crowded around watching their leaders make impassioned calls to “seal the deal” in Copenhagen and take advantage of the unprecedented gathering of decision-making power. It was widely recognized that this marked the largest gathering of the world’

s leaders outside New York and therefore constituted a historic moment.

Indeed, some softening of positions and progress could “finally” be detected from the statements by high-level representatives on Thursday. At her press conference in the morning, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the US is prepared to work with other countries to mobilize US$100 billion a year by 2020. A financing announcement had also been made earlier by Japan to raise climate aid to about US$15 billion by 2012. In his plenary statement, French President Sarkozy also stressed the need for financing for developing countries and remarked that if keeping the Kyoto Protocol is what it takes, then the Kyoto Protocol could be retained. Reports on softening in China’

s position concerning MRV were also circulating. Many were hoping these announcements would have a positive impact on the negotiations.

Negotiators were prepared for a long and sleepless night, as the COP and COP/MOP contact groups decided to continue working well beyond midnight. Rumors were also circulating that the world leaders were making their own efforts to work towards a deal. “

One way or another Friday is going to be a historic day in this process, and the whole world is pushing for us in this building to make it a resounding success.

and as per The Japan Times, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20091218a1.html

Friday, Dec. 18, 2009

Japan, U.S. vow cash to gain climate deal

America set to join $100 billion aid fund: Clinton

By ERIC JOHNSTON and SETSUKO KAMIYA

Staff writers

COPENHAGEN —

In a last-minute attempt to achieve a breakthrough at the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen, Japan and the United States announced Wednesday and Thursday short- and long-term financial pledges for developing countries to mitigate the effects of climate change over the next three years and to adapt to the future effects of global warming by 2020.

The announcement of new aid packages came on the ninth and final day of formal negotiations on a deal for new emissions reduction targets for the post-2012 period, following the expiration of the first period of commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

On Wednesday evening, Japan pledged ¥1.75 trillion ($15 billion) in public and private funding to help developing countries adjust to climate change between 2010-2012. The U.S. announced Thursday morning it would work to help provide developing countries with up to $100 billion annually through yet-to-be-determined financial mechanisms and incentives by 2020 for adaptation to future climate change.

“We’re announcing this pledge in the hope that it will become a driving force for the negotiations to move forward and come to a meaningful agreement,” Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa said Wednesday, at Japan’s first open press briefing of the COP15 conference.

Of the total, public finance comprises about ¥1.3 trillion ($11 billion) and the rest will be collected from the private sector by creating a new plan involving the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, said Vice Foreign Minister Tetsuro Fukuyama. Details of that plan were still being discussed and will require a change in the law, he added.

Ozawa’s announcement now means short-term financing pledges for developing countries, which the United Nations said should be around $30 billion by 2012, have nearly been met. The European Union announced last week that about $10.8 billion in total would be available for the remaining period and the U.S. and other countries were expected to contribute as well.

But the long-term financing of the deal has been the more controversial issue. Economists and nongovernmental organizations have said that anywhere between $140 billion and $200 billion or more would be needed by 2020 to assist developing countries facing desertification, increased floods, crop failures and potential climate refugees displaced by severe weather patterns due to global warming.

“Today, I would like to announce that in the context of a strong accord, in which all major economies stand behind meaningful mitigation actions and provide full transparency as to their implementation, the U.S. is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said.

“We expect that this funding will come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance,” she said.

But while both Japan and the U.S. offered developing nations a carrot, the pledges also came with a big stick, as Ozawa and Clinton said developing nations must commit to legally binding emissions cuts.

“If those conditions are not met, we’ll have to withdraw this pledge,” Ozawa said.

In a warning directed toward China — which insists that its reduction target of 40 percent to 45 percent per unit of gross domestic product by 2020 compared with 2005 levels is a domestic, voluntary measure and should not be codified in an international treaty —

both Ozawa and Clinton said there were conditions attached to their pledges, which included participation in a new deal, and emissions-reduction actions that were transparent.

“I’ve often quoted a Chinese proverb which says that when we are in a common boat, you have to cross the river peacefully together. Well, we are in a common boat,” Clinton said.

“All of the major economies have an obligation to commit to a meaningful mitigation action and stand behind them in a transparent way.”

It remained to be seen whether the new pledges by the U.S. and Japan would be the game-breaker negotiators had been looking for to move the negotiations forward.

Fundamental differences over the amount by which countries should reduce their emissions remain.

 

 

In a meeting Thursday evening with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama,static.lingospot.com/spot/image/icon.gif); background-position: -22px 100%; padding: 0pt; margin: 0pt !important; border: 0px none initial;” src=”http://static.lingospot.com/spot/image/spacer.gif” alt=”" /> Wen said China wants the 1997 Kyoto Protocolstatic.lingospot.com/spot/image/icon.gif); background-position: -22px 100%; padding: 0pt; margin: 0pt !important; border: 0px none initial;” src=”http://static.lingospot.com/spot/image/spacer.gif” alt=”" /> to be extended, and his nation was not obliged to join it. But Hatoyama reportedly said that because the protocol only covers countries that account for between 27 percent and 30 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions,static.lingospot.com/spot/image/icon.gif); background-position: -22px 100%; padding: 0pt; margin: 0pt !important; border: 0px none initial;” src=”http://static.lingospot.com/spot/image/spacer.gif” alt=”" /> a new, broader, international framework was needed.

The logjam in negotiations appeared broken Thursday by the arrival of nearly 120 heads of state and the Thursday financial pledges from Japan and the U.S. And by early Friday it appeared a political agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissionsstatic.lingospot.com/spot/image/icon.gif); background-position: -22px 100%; padding: 0pt; margin: 0pt !important; border: 0px none initial;” src=”http://static.lingospot.com/spot/image/spacer.gif” alt=”" /> might finally be in the offing.

But according to Sarkozy, differences between developed countries and major developing economies over the level of transparency needed on their recently announced emissions reductions plans were holding up an agreement.

Many world leaders, including Hatoyama and Obama, were scheduled to leave Copenhagen later Friday afternoon while the outcome of the conference remained unclear.

A three-page draft of a provisional agreement was being circulated among delegates Friday morning, and reports were that it was vague and repeated previously agreed upon general emissions reductions goals like a 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2050 that were made at other international summits earlier this year.

The Thursday announcement by Clinton that the U.S. would work with other countries to eventually provide $100 billion annually by 2020 for long-term climate change adaptation was greeted with relief by leaders in developed countries as a game-changer that could help produce a deal.

But developing countries, especially in the African group of nations, remained skeptical over the details of Clinton’s announcement, which were considered vague. One African leader suggested Thursday afternoon that no deal was better than a bad deal.