Photo: Graeme Cook
As you’ll see from the photo, the main plenary room wasn’t in use when I wandered in, but it will be the scene of much of the high level negotiation to come, and is now packed out. I didn’t get into the meeting Milliband was chairing as yet another pass is needed, one of which I should pick up later. I attended another meeting where there was discussion on the consequences of climate change, but I suspect that the G77 nations and the European Union are in bilateral talks as neither turned up.
I’m in a meeting on a report on Melting Ice which has been instigated and led by Al Gore. The report presents information that shows that the summer sea ice extent in the Arctic has diminished by over 40% since the 1970s. This decrease is much faster and more dramatic than any previous models had predicted. A related issue highlighted is pollutants transferred from the industrial areas of the world to areas covered by snow and ice. This soot reduces the reflectivity of the sun, and instead absorbs heat and leads to further melting. At the South Pole, there are indications that there is a net loss of ice from Antarctica.
As far as glaciers are concerned, the report indicates that large glaciers around the world are showing a trend of retreating, though there are 100,000 glaciers, including many smallers ones for which there is little historic data. It is reported that 50% of observed sea level rise is as a result of melting glaciers, and if all melt there wil be a sea level rise of 0.4 metres. The report indicates that permafrost temperatures in SIberia, Canada and northern Europe has increased by between 0.5 and 2 degrees celsius – imprtant because permafrost locks up greenhouse gases.
In an hour CNN and YouTube are to broadcast a live debate on climate change including views from all sides of the debate. I won’t go along but the media facilities here are fantastic so I may tune in to some of it remotely. The photo below shows the computer area – this is vast, but wifi is available everywhere, and none of this includes journalists who have their own huge media centre (which they will be locked into on Thursday and Friday..).
Photo: Graeme Cook
A sprinkling of people met so far today include:
- South African representing the coal to liquid fuel lobby
- Indonesian Government representative
- Representative from Mediation Without Borders, who are trying to ensure mediation is included in the final Copenhagen Agreement (but they have little chance as the focus is on the headline issues – targets, finance, credibility)
- WWF Russia climate change representative
- Director of the Hazards, Climate and Environment Programme at the University of Hawaii
- Executive Director of the Danish Climate Consortium, a Government-Business initiative set up for COP-15 to ensure Danish business is equipped to deliver clean technologies around the world. The representative informed me that the Danish economy has grown 75% since the 1970s oil crisis, but with no increase in energy use – this is because the high taxes on oil and gas imposed during the oil crisis have been retained by Denmark, driving energy efficiency practice and green technology.
