Climategate and the Copenhagen Climate Treaty

Obama Surprises with Copenhagen Summit Decision

December 4, 2009

Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to attend U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen at the end of the process rather than the beginning shows the White House is serious about pursuing a deal to curb global warming. The White House attributed a late change of plan on Friday to growing momentum toward a new global accord.

Obama was originally scheduled to attend the December 7-18 summit in Denmark on Wednesday before traveling to nearby Oslo to collect his Nobel Peace Prize.

Some European officials and environmentalists had expressed surprise at the initial decision, pointing out most of the hard bargaining on cutting greenhouse gas emissions would likely take place at the climax of the summit, when dozens of other world leaders are also due to attend.

"After months of diplomatic activity, there is progress being made toward a meaningful Copenhagen accord in which all countries pledge to take action against the global threat of climate change," the White House said in a statement.

Danish officials say more than 100 world leaders have confirmed they will attend the conference, which Denmark hopes will help lay the foundation for a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming gases.

"Based on his conversations with other leaders and the progress that has already been made to give momentum to negotiations, the president believes that continued U.S. leadership can be most productive through his participation at the end of the Copenhagen conference on December 18th rather than on December 9th," the White House said.

GROWING CONSENSUS

The Obama administration has been encouraged by recent announcements by China and India, two other major carbon emitters, to set targets to rein in emissions and the growing consensus on raising cash to help poor nations cope with global warming, seen as a stumbling block to a new U.N. deal.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen swiftly welcomed Obama's decision, saying his attendance was "an expression of the growing political momentum toward sealing an ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen." In London, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Obama's presence would give "huge impetus" to the negotiations.

The United States will pledge in Copenhagen to cut its greenhouse gas emissions roughly 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

It was the last major industrialized country to offer a target for cutting greenhouse gases in a U.N.-led drive to slow rising world temperatures that could bring more heatwaves, expanding deserts, floods and rising sea levels.

Experts expect the Copenhagen gathering to reach a political agreement that includes targets for cuts in greenhouse gases by rich nations by 2020. Agreement on a successor to Kyoto will be put off until 2010.

The White House said Obama had discussed the status of negotiations with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain's Brown.

There appeared to be a growing consensus that a "core element" of the Copenhagen accord should be to seek pledges totaling $10 billion a year by 2012 to help developing countries cope with climate change, the White House said.

"The United States will pay its fair share of that amount and other countries will make substantial commitments as well," it said.

Environmentalists welcomed Obama's move and some called for him to shift his administration's target for cutting emissions at the same time.

"After a global outcry, President Obama has listened to the people and other world leaders; he has come to his senses and accepted the importance of this potentially historic meeting," Martin Kaiser, Greenpeace International's political climate coordinator, said in a statement.

"Now that he has moved the date, he needs to move his targets and his financial contribution to be in line with what climate science demands," he said.

Denmark Beefs Up Security for Climate Summit

December 3, 2009

Tri-City Herald - In Denmark's biggest security operation since World War II, police are mobilizing thousands of officers and - for the first time - a water cannon for next week's U.N. climate summit.

AP Photo - At an abandoned beer warehouse in Copenhagen's Valby district, law enforcement officials have constructed an elaborate holding facility with three dozen steel cages to accommodate over 350 potential troublemakers during a United Nations climate conference that gets under way here on December 7.

Copenhagen police demonstrated the German-made 22-ton vehicle to media Thursday, showcasing it mainly as a beefed-up fire truck that could spray water on burning cars or trash bins if protests get out of hand.

But police spokesman Michael Engell said it was possible to add tear gas to the 1.5 million-gallon (6,000-liter) water tank, implying that the cannon could also be aimed at rioting protesters. Police said they have never before used such a vehicle.

At least 100 world leaders, including President Barack Obama, will converge on the normally tranquil city in the next two weeks to try to forge a new pact against global warming.

Roughly 15,000 delegates have signed up for the conference - and many more protesters are expected to march through the streets of the capital.

Most demonstrations are expected to be peaceful manifestations urging world leaders to craft an ambitious climate agreement, but police say they are ready if things get rowdy.

"We do not want to be at war with anyone," Copenhagen police operations chief Per Larsen said. "But we will act accordingly if something unacceptable happens. This is not a threat but consumer information."

Lene Vennits, one of the organizers of a planned demonstration on Dec. 12, criticized the police for deploying a water cannon.

"It sends a signal that the climate summit is about violence," she told The Associated Press. "We plan to walk with candles on Dec. 12, and it doesn't mean the city is on fire."

Still, anarchist and anti-capitalist groups have suggested they will seek confrontations with police. It's unclear how many of them will show up in Copenhagen.

The Bella Center conference facility on the outskirts of the capital has been turned into a fortress, sealed off by massive concrete blocks and 6-foot-high (2-meter-high) metal fences.

More than half of the country's 11,000-strong police force will be on the streets of Copenhagen. Police in neighboring countries are lending bomb-sniffing dogs, vans and helicopters.

Denmark also has reactivated border checks that are normally left unattended to allow free movement of people inside the European Union's passport-free zone.

Authorities have not raised the terror alert level, saying any risk of attacks is connected not to the conference, but to Denmark's military presence in Afghanistan and lingering resentment over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad first published in a Danish newspaper in 2005.

Besides world leaders, dozens of VIPs are expected in Copenhagen, including Britain's Prince Charles, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, ex-U.S. Vice President Al Gore, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.