Copenhagen: Saturday 19th December 12:00pm

Confusion still abounds as to what is happening with the COP15 talks but these are the reports I’m getting.

As the summit was drawing to a close, it seemed that the planned political declaration – the Copenhagen Accord – was going to be no more than a footnote. President Obama left last night believing that the Copenhagen Accord – already agreed by a select group of countries including China, Brazil, India and South Africa – would be adopted by the entire conference.

But it hasn’t happened. After a heated session, where countries complained about the content of the text and the way in which it was being forced on them by a small group of states, the plenary was adjourned. As talks reopened, it was clear that an agreement had been reached to bring the summit to an end, with the Copenhagen Accord as an annex to be noted.

It’s hard to believe but the final draft was even weaker than the one discussed yesterday. We aren’t sure yet whether it will be adopted as an information note to a decision or whether the summit will be adjourned with no agreement.

This is a  summary of some of the points:

-  2°C ‘recognised’ as the scientific view, i.e. not adopted as target

-  No 2050 targets

- Parties ‘should’ co-operate to achieve global and national emissions peaks as soon as possible, recognising that the timeframe for peaking will be longer in developing countries

- Developing countries ‘shall be provided’  with additional and predictable financing

- Industrialised countries will report on their emissions reduction commitments by 2020 by filling in a table before the deadline of February 2010. These targets will be collated into a collective figure.

- Developing country mitigation action by Brazil, China, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Mexico, Philippines, Korea, Singapore and South Africa will be listed in a table, but with a note that the information is obtained from media sources and has not been confirmed by the governments concerned. As with industrialised countries, this should be completed before 1st February 2010

- full international monitoring and verification (MRV) for actions and financing that are supported

- fast start financing for developing countries of USD 30bn for 2010-2012

-  in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, developed countries set a goal of mobilising jointly USD 100bn a year by 2020 for developing countries (from public and private, but probably not including the developing countries’ own contribution)

- Copenhagen Green Climate Fund to be established.

- Assessment of the impact of the Accord in 2015. This would include consideration of strengthening the long term goal, with the 1.5C limit mentioned.

- Endorsement of the COP decision – this gives the mandate for AWG LCA to continue its work with a view to presenting the results of its work in the form of a legally binding instrument to the COP16. This is really the only hopeful element of the whole package, apart from the fast start finance.

We predicted and expected a bad result and we certainly got one. A very strange one at that!

I was in Cancun when the WTO talks broke down in confusion a few years ago but that was nothing in comparison to the chaos surrounding this summit – in and outside the conference hall. I have never witnessed such frustration and disappointment – not only with the results but with the whole process which excluded the people who matter most.

I’m leaving Copenhagen today with a heavy heart and knowing that in the New Year we have to start all over again – and this time the struggle will be much harder.

Copnehagen: Friday 18th December 11:30pm

I woke this morning and put on the television in the hotel to see Barack Obama stepping off his plane at Copenhagen airport. I was glad he was here. I was glad to see leaders from all over the world turn up here. Even though by now there was little hope for an effective and binding agreement, at least their presence showed that they took it seriously enough – and had been lobbied enough – to show up.

This morning Copenhagen was as bitterly cold as yesterday. I hoped that the lack of warmth outside did not reflect a lack of warmth inside the Bella Centre. Because of the shambles all week over who and who did not have passes to go in, I hadn’t actually gone there until this morning. I was entitled to a pass as a member of the European Parliament Environment Committee but then things changed, numbers were restricted, and eventually, with thousands of others, I couldn’t get access. There were plenty of other just as useful things to do and I had very detailed briefings from our representatives in the Bella Centre so I wasn’t too bothered. But this was the last day and I felt I should go there myself.

It’s a sprawling white complex, made whiter by the snow. Having been to several summits, I wasn’t surprised to see rows of heavily armed police guarding the high metal barricades surrounding the centre. One lone wind turbine stood inside the complex, turning quickly in the icy wind. Surely that was put there just for show for the conference?!

Ignoring the police!

The police eyed everyone suspiciously but were unsure quite how to react when two young men arrived (I suppose school teachers) leading a party of about ten five or six year old boys, explaining to them what was happening behind the fences and why it was important. They crossed the road and went right up to the barricades and the police shuffled their feet. But they needn’t have worried. The group soon left, having ignored the police completely! 

After taking a few long distance photos of the Bella Centre, we made our way around the temporary perimeter fence. We passed some, but not many, demonstrations on the way. The most striking image was that of starving people, knee deep in ice in the frozen pond alongside the centre. We were bombarded by protesters calling for mass vegetarianism to fight climate change – if only it was that simple!!

Starving statues outside the Bella Center

It was too cold to hang around so we got on the train which took us directly back to the city centre and returned to the Klimaforum. It was mid-day by now and the stalls and exhibitions were packing up. I was disappointed to have missed the Centre for Alternative Technology exhibition on Zero Carbon Britain but so much had been happening. 

Today was an anticlimax after the frenetic activity of earlier in the week. Only a constantly droning helicopter above the city reminded us that many world leaders were gathered there. As the hours went by and the daylight faded, so did the remnant of hope that we had. 

Many of my colleagues left for home. It felt like we were in a limbo – waiting for something, expecting nothing. We would have given up except that the television reports reminded us that the talks were still going on. What were they doing? No-one seemed to really know. 

Then eventually we went for something to eat and half way through the meal got a text saying that there was an agreement. We went back to the hotel room and put on the TV and as I write I am listening to the statement by Barack Obama. Of course, it’s not binding, it’s nothing like what is needed…but it is an agreement that the US has signed up to. Many people don’t believe Obama can deliver. But personally I trust him and for now I will give him the benefit of the doubt. That doesn’t mean stopping campaigning – it means campaigning even harder. 

I have some major questions before seeing the detail of this agreement. What do the other countries think? What about the funding issues? And where was the European Union??? The EU has truly lost the accolade as the world leader in the campaign to fight climate change. 

I’m not sure whether this situation is good or bad or even indifferent. I will have to speak to my colleagues who were in the negotiations to make a proper assessment. It certainly is not the legally binding agreement the world needs to keep global warming below two degrees centigrade. No-one pretends it is. So even if it is a step forward there is no doubt that the world leaders have missed the opportunity to make a huge difference in the fight against climate change. That fact in itself will cause despair all over the world. I’m curious to see what spin is put on this story tomorrow – I can’t imagine. But I do feel some comfort that world governments (on the whole) recognise the magnitude of the threat we face. Incredibly, we still don’t have the power the banks have to make governments stump up money with no hesitation at all – with no question of whether or not we can afford it. But I feel that maybe – just maybe – the message has begun to sink in. This process started back in 1992. I’ve been campaigning hard on this for ten years – many others for many, many more years. We wanted much, much more. But it’s a start!

Copenhagen: Thursday 17th December 10:30pm

We left the hotel and headed for the town and the Klimaforum09 Centre. The snow had stopped falling but the temperature had dropped a lot and there was a biting wind. We were glad to reach the warmth of the centre where hundreds of people were milling around, trying to find out the latest news on the negotiations. There were several meetings taking place and I caught the end of one debate on why nuclear energy is not an option to combat climate change. 

I met George Monbiot who had been here for several days taking part in meetings. We talked about the general pessimism about any meaningful agreement but also about the increasing frustration and anger people were feeling. Thousands had come here for an opportunity to lobby and influence the world leaders but had found themselves shut out of the Bella Centre where everything was happening. The feeling was that the “climate deniers” had much more access to the decisions makers than we had. 

I spoke to several people who had waited for hours on end outside the Bella Centre and failed to get in. I heard stories about people arriving from African and Asian countries who had been kept outside waiting, without access to food, hot drinks or toilets and without suitable warm clothes. Luned Jones from Oxfam Cymru came to meet us and told of similar experiences. Oxfam is one of the agencies that are already incredibly active in fighting climate change and raising awareness of the catastrophe we face if we fail to address this now.

I did interviews with Iolo ap Dafydd from BBC Wales/Cymru for today’s news. Iolo had covered events since the first day and would be staying until the end. There are several people here from Wales who have come not only to lobby the leaders but to show what Wales – as a small country with a commitment to sustainable development – has done already on fighting climate change.

Wales Environment Minister Jane Davidson, who has also been here since the start, emphasised the impact that Wales has had in her work with the network of sub-state regions for sustainable development. Her contacts with developing countries and others had shown that although we, perhaps, don’t shout enough about our ground breaking commitments to reducing greenhouse gases year on year from 2011, we are leading the way. I am very proud of what the One Wales government has done. None of us are saying that it is enough – we know that we have further to go – but we are acting and not just talking.

George, Luned and Jane left to head home for Wales tonight. I have mixed feelings. I wish I was going home but at the same time I want to be here when Obama and others arrive to add my voice to the thousands of others pleading for a legally binding, effective deal tomorrow. It’s hard to believe that after the many, many years of campaigning for this we are now within hours of the end and we are facing probable failure. Some people look on the “bright” side and say that no deal is better than a bad deal. They are probably right. But if they can’t reach a deal now, when will they? I wish we could get close enough to look into their eyes and really challenge them.

The horrible reality is that what the (majority of) world leaders are discussing behind the closed doors of the Bella Centre is money. It’s not fighting climate change; it’s not our legacy to our children and grandchildren or the future of our planet – it’s all about money. We can find unlimited money to bail out the banks or to spend on nuclear weapons, but when it comes to shouldering our responsibilities to fighting climate change in the poorest countries – or at home – we talk about what “we” can afford.

We can’t afford not to act now – and now means – Friday 18^th December 2009. 

Everyone is thinking of Christmas, including me. I want to go home on Saturday and spend Christmas with my family knowing that it was worth me coming to Copenhagen – that I and the people of Wales have made a difference. 

Tomorrow will tell.

Copenhagen: December 17th 2:00pm

Interview with Iolo ap Daydd for BBC Cymru Wales.

Being interviewed outside the entrance to Klima Forum 09 by the BBC’s Iolo ap Dafydd.

Copenhagen: December 17th 9:30am

The snow has stopped falling but is thick on the ground. There is some traffic but most people are walking so it’s still very quiet. You wouldn’t think that this city is the focus of the world for the next two days. 

Pessimism abounds on all news coverage of the talks themselves. Despite being with the European Parliament delegation and an accredited member of the organisation GLOBE, it is almost certain I will not now get into the Bella Centre where the main conference is being held. The centre holds 15,000 people and 45,000 were promised passes – the numbers just don’t add up! So with the talks entering their most crucial phase we have been told that the numbers are severely restricted. GLOBE will have only a handful of passes today and none tomorrow. 

We know from the WWF briefings that some of the negotiations have been going on throughout the night. The latest text seems to be weak and non-legal, largely due to the United States position. This is why it is so important that the European Union improves its commitment to a unilateral 30% emissions reductions by 2020 (not the 20% it is committed to now) to encourage other countries to follow the lead. In the European Parliament earlier this week we were pushing for this to be done urgently. We have always claimed that the EU leads on fighting climate change. This is its chance to prove that – its biggest political challenge.   

This morning I am meeting George Monbiot and Oxfam Cymru representatives in the Klimaforum09 – the “Peoples’ Climate Summit” in the centre of the city. This is where movements and organisations from all over the world get together. This afternoon I will be meeting Wales Sustainability Minister Jane Davidson. We will talk about how we use the remaining few hours in Copenhagen to push for the strongest possible agreement.

Copenhagen: December 16th

I arrived in Copenhagen to find the predicted snow had started to fall. The city seemed particularly dark despite the gleam of the snow settling on the ground – I later realised this was “Earth Hour” in Copenhagen. All the lights are switched off for an hour to save energy and as a protest against climate change. We took part in a similar protest earlier in the year. 

I have never been to Copenhagen before and went into the city centre for a brief look around. The huge globe on the Town Hall square off Hans Christian Andersens Boulevard is more than a reminder to everyone here just how much is at stake with these talks.  

The city was strangely quiet, with the occasional whirring of a helicopter and police motorcycles speeding by with blue lights flashing. The leaders were coming to town!

Live up to your claims

A new study by the Ecofys Institute, commissioned by the Greens/EFA group, was launched today in the European Parliament. The study underlines the need for the EU to improve its pledges on emissions reductions and climate financing if it wants to live up to its claims to be the leader in international climate policy. 

The EU’s current pledges on emissions target are even lower than the pledges of other countries.

The EU must immediately improve its reductions target to at least 30% by 2020. This could influence other countries in Copenhagen and help to get an agreement in line with limiting global warming to 2°C.

To achieve the aim of keeping warming under 2°C, the EU must go further and promise emissions reductions of at least 40 per cent by 2020 and made domestically, not offset by purchasing credits.

The continued failure of the EU to live up to its responsibility to provide sufficient financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries is another major shadow over the EU’s position. According to the study, the EU must provide at least €30 billion per annum by 2020, as advocated by the EP environment committee.

Text your support in bid for binding agreement

On the opening day of the UN climate change summit I’m asking you to register your support for a binding agreement to cut emissions by at least 40%. 

I’ve launched a public SMS poll or text vote that allows individuals to respond to the statement, “I want a binding agreement to cut emissions by at least 40% by 2020.”

Forty per cent is an essential target if we are going to stop a 2 degree increase in temperatures. There’s cross party support in the National Assembly and the One Wales government have already committed to reduce our emissions by 3% after 2011.

We have to keep up the pressure on the world leaders and the people of Wales can help lead the way in this by texting “CUT A” to 07624 808182. I’m going to Copenhagen next week and the more people who register their vote, the more I can use it to lobby.

Visit my website, JillEvans.net and click on the Copenhagen banner on my homepage. The link will take you through to all my Copenhagen related information.