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Copenhagen Climate Talks
Delegates and leaders from around the world have come together this month in Copenhagen with hopes of hammering out an international climate deal. To cover every angle, OnEarth has joined forces with Mother Jones, Grist, Discover, The Nation, Huffington Post Green, TreeHugger and more to form the Copenhagen News Collaborative. See a list of recent reports to the right.
NRDC's delegation will offer expert analysis and commentary on the Switchboard blog. Here at OnEarth, community editor Ben Jervey and correspondent Emily Gertz are also in Copenhagen, providing behind-the-scences coverage and helping you make sense of it all. Follow their blog posts:
November 22, 2010:
On November 29 representatives from 190 countries will be in Cancun, Mexico for the 16th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Late last week, following a two-day Major... read more >
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September 3, 2010:
On village roads like these -- they’re footpaths, really, being pressed into service as roads -- having a pint-sized car is an advantage. And when gas runs nearly $4 a gallon, in a country where the average income is about $... read more >
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March 1, 2010:
Since leaving Copenhagen, I have discovered more to report.It's a rather fantastic moment to moment account of that last day, Friday, at the Bella Center when the deal was sealed. Jacob Scherr, our senior staff person for... read more >
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February 23, 2010:
Some things I don’t get: lottery tickets, for instance. Any look at the odds says there is no chance of getting that payoff, but people still buy the things. It says something about the irrationality of our species.... read more >
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January 14, 2010:
US Climate Envoy Todd Stern's meter reading was firmly on "determined optimism" today. In his first public comments since December's climate treaty conference, Stern said that the Copenhagen accord, the... read more >
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January 14, 2010:
Well now, my thoughts have changed. I stand corrected. The negotiations are over, the meeting has been declared closed, the members have left for home. Our two chief negotiators (David Doniger and Jake Schmidt) have... read more >
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January 14, 2010:
I am sure you have all read some news version of what happened today.We left the hotel breakfast early to get to what we thought was the best spot to view the proceedings and Obama's speech inside the thoroughly... read more >
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January 14, 2010:
Very low spirits at breakfast today. There are always several fellow participants to join at the beginning of the day, to plan the sessions to attend. But this morning things were in slow motion. Then there was the added... read more >
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January 14, 2010:
Explosive events ending in despair, and you know what I mean if you have been following the news. It's terribly confusing and difficult to get information here - more coverage on CNN than from ground zero. So I will tell... read more >
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January 14, 2010:
There are 100 photographs displayed on the edge of the public square where those nifty globes are that I showed you yesterday. I have included a selection of these, and this is the caption on the marquee accompanying them... read more >
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December 31, 2009:
Would you like to ask questions about the United Nations climate talks and chew over the ins and outs of global warming politics? Want to do it in an online fourm that prioritizes intelligent conversation over partisan... read more >
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December 22, 2009:
So it turns out that not even President Obama could deliver magic ponies and glitter to the snafu'd Copenhagen climate talks. The lackluster, non-binding "Copenhagen Accord" that emerged from the two-week meeting... read more >
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December 21, 2009:
Flopenhagen...worse than useless...The Copenhagen Discord...a suicide pact...a failure.A meaningful agreement...an important first step...better than nothing...a breakthrough...It's safe to say that reaction to the... read more >
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December 18, 2009:
6:40 pm Copenhagen time -- The United Nations climate group has officially extended COP15 into Saturday. World leaders and negotiating teams have been in meetings since midday, still attempting to make a breakthrough on a... read more >
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December 18, 2009:
[UPDATE, 2:46 p.m. Copenhagen time: Even as I type, word is racing around that Wen and Obama have "made progress" in a "constructive" face-to-face meeting. And that other world leaders are still going at... read more >
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December 18, 2009:
Photo by Emily GertzThe 0.5 Degree Question One of the most important schisms in the climate talks rests on a half-degree: Will we aim to keep global mean temperature rise below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, or... read more >
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December 18, 2009:
The summit at Copenhagen has arrived, and the first few days have not shown us much progress. I, however, remain optimistic! I was considering giving a summary of events that have taken place at the meetings, and those... read more >
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December 17, 2009:
The penulitmate day of the Copehnagen climate talks has been marked by soap-opera worthy twists and turns. They seem to have created some highly guarded optimism that the negotiations may not be falling apart. Here's the... read more >
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December 17, 2009:
Has the Obama administration in fact brought an adorable kitten -- in climate diplomacy terms -- to Copenhagen?Secretary of State Hillary Clinton swooped into the talks this morning. Before a packed press room, she... read more >
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December 16, 2009:
This evening at the climate conference center, there is a line of young adults sitting along the main aisle in the main hall, holding placards and pieces of paper with slogans demanding a strong, effective climate treaty... read more >
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December 16, 2009:
James Cameron's new movie Avatar arrives coincidently at the end of the Copenhagen climate talks. It's being shown here in Denmark with Danish subtitles. Let's demand that our delegates only be allowed into MusikTeatret... read more >
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December 16, 2009:
Image via It's Getting Hot in Here blogI was counting myself lucky to be outside the increasingly hot, crowded, and policed conference venue, the Bella Center, this afternoon reporting a story. But word comes of intense... read more >
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December 16, 2009:
"It's a massacre." An agreement to curb deforestation in developing nations is hitting the rocks at Copenhagen, reports Robert S. Eshelman in The Nation. Conservation advocates are heaping blame upon the U.S.... read more >
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December 15, 2009:
OK, the minute I read about the ‘poor nations walking out' at Copenhagen's Climate Change conference...I started banging my forehead on the table. This ‘group of 77' is not just the Pacific Islanders - it includes... read more >
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December 15, 2009:
Many here at the Bella Center (late...check that, very late Tuesday night) are reacting with a mix of shock and outrage at word of a new proposal put forth by France and Ethiopia that is being alternatively described as weak... read more >
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December 15, 2009:
Todd Stern comes across at press conferences as a mild-mannered fellow. But it's safe to assume that in order to rise to the role of U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, he's had to be an ambitious and determined man.... read more >
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December 15, 2009:
About a week ago something unusual happened. I received an email from the U.S. Ambassador to Finland. He was worried about going to Copenhagen as part of the U.S. delegation to the climate negotiations and getting his head... read more >
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December 15, 2009:
Here's my shortlist of today's essential reads from beyond the major press outlets, on what's going down at the climate treaty negotations in Copenhagen. Enjoy! Is Copenhagen Melting Down? On Monday, negotiators from... read more >
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December 14, 2009:
Today was the first day of continuous meetings, back-to-back, except for a 90 minute period when I studied back at the hotel. Each meeting was in a different location, and there were more than 20 offered. I chose meetings... read more >
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December 13, 2009:
There seems to be assertions afoot that the planet is in dire threat of over-heating, which means that glaciers will melt so sea level rises 22 feet (50% of Florida disappears, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis will... read more >
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December 13, 2009:
These were the funniest and wittiest of the demonstrators at Saturday's climate action march in Copenhagen. (Standard disclaimer: In my humble opinion.) See more of Emily's reports from Copenhagen as part of OnEarth's... read more >
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December 12, 2009:
Update: Video of Tuvalu's intervention: Tuvalu is turning into the little island nation that could just be the game changer in these talks. After a couple of days spent digging in their heels on the legal form of a... read more >
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December 11, 2009:
After a couple of days spent digging in their heels, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) went on the offensive today, formally offering a draft text -- they're calling it a "survival pact" -- for a legally-... read more >
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December 11, 2009:
Week one of the Copenhagen climate talks is hurtling to an end, with the United States and China exchanging delicately worded fire. It was the delegation of a small Pacific island nation that captured everyone's attention... read more >
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December 10, 2009:
It was déjà vu all over again today in Copenhagen. Two days in a row, the small island nation of Tuvalu flexed its newfound muscle and brought the talks to a screeching halt. A literal halt--both of the main negotiating... read more >
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December 9, 2009:
Today the Guardian leaked a Danish proposal which included higher per capita carbon allowances for developed nations (those with the gold) than on those without the gold. Of course this sounds unfair and outrageous and... read more >
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December 8, 2009:
It's been an eventful several minutes here at the Bella Center (the climate negotiations venue in Copenhagen), with different interests trying to get out in front with their reactions to the "Danish text," the... read more >
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December 5, 2009:
Copenhagen, Dec. 5 -- The stolen e-mails from a leading climate research center don't seem to be derailing the climate treaty talks kicking off Monday in Copenhagen.President Obama has even changed his travel plans to show... read more >
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December 4, 2009:
Some of the more pessimistic people I've talked to in the run-up to the meetings in Copenhagen speak as if these talks are a foregone conclusion. To me it seems a little silly to predict what's going to happen. What the heck... read more >
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December 3, 2009:
Two full years ago in Bali delegates agreed that this December in Copenhagen would be the time and place to finalize an international climate deal. And with very few exceptions (looking at you, Mr. Inhofe), everyone heading... read more >
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December 2, 2009:
On the surface, UN climate meetings are a beautiful thing. Here are people from all over the world, literally from all but a handful of countries, coming together in the spirit of international cooperation to solve climate... read more >
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December 1, 2009:
One of these things is not like the others. Read on to find out why... It's not easy for me to admit this, but it's awfully embarrassing to be an American in the international climate arena. Because, like it or not,... read more >
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November 30, 2009:
You've probably heard the bad news: There's no chance for a deal in Copenhagen. So why should you care what happens at the worldwide climate summit that opens in Denmark a week from today? If you've already been following... read more >
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November 4, 2009:
Well that's settled. There won't be a Senate bill before Copenhagen. Which means a lot of things: the US won't have concrete numbers on mitigation targets and finance commitments before COP15 convenes; the difficult job of... read more >
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November 4, 2009:
With the US still holding out on a couple crucial bits of information (mitigation targets and finance numbers) that make real progress on the Long-term Cooperative Agreement (LCA) track just about impossible, the UN talks... read more >
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November 2, 2009:
As the last round of “intersessional” climate talks before Copenhagen opened today in Barcelona, all eyes were looking in the same direction they were when we left Bangkok three weeks earlier: at the United States. Without... read more >
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October 7, 2009:
The lesson from the first week in Bangkok was this: negotiations don’t go anywhere without U.S. numbers on the table. Meaning, everyone’s pretty much dancing around the real discussion until Pershing & Co. lay down a... read more >
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October 6, 2009:
Over the next three months, I'll be tracking the American positions in the international climate treaty negotiations for the Adopt-A-Negotiator project. Together, we're tracking the negotiators from twelve key countries up... read more >
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October 5, 2009:
Over the next three months, I'll be tracking the American positions in the international climate treaty negotiations for the Adopt-A-Negotiator project. Together, we're tracking the negotiators from twelve key countries up... read more >
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April 13, 2009:
As the markets have gone down, long-held assumptions have been thrown up and into the air. Economic theories, and not just the value of our homes and our retirement accounts, are coming undone. In some cases, that may... read more >
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