copenhagen news

Hundreds Held In Fresh Climate Protests

2009-12-14T02:05:00.000-08:00

3:53pm UK, Sunday December 13, 2009

Andy Jack, Sky News Online

Danish police have detained more than 200 climate change activists in a second day of street protests.

Police surround protesters as trouble brews in Copenhagen on Saturday

Police stopped an unauthorised demonstration heading toward Copenhagen's harbour and said they found bolt-cutters and gas masks when they searched a truck at the head of the protest.

Only 13 of the 968 people detained during and after a mass rally in the city on Saturday remain in custody. Of those, three - two Danes and a Frenchman - were due to appear in court on preliminary charges of fighting with police.

An estimated 40,000 people had joined the mostly peaceful march toward the suburban conference centre where the United Nations climate conference is being held.

Riot police detained activists at the tail-end of the demonstration when some of them started vandalising buildings, including the former stock exchange and the Foreign Ministry.

A police officer received minor injuries when he was hit by a rock thrown from the group and one protester was injured by fireworks, a police spokesman said.

Saturday's demonstrations turned violent - 1,000 people were arrested

Critics blasted the Danish law that allows police to make preventative arrests if they believe a demonstration will turn violent and hold suspected troublemakers for up to 12 hours without a court appearance.

"They arrested 1,000 people. And they only followed up on three of them," said Amnesty International spokeswoman Ida Thuesen. "There are lot of people who haven't done anything and had no intention of doing anything."

Dr Rowan Williams

At the conference, the pledges on emissions cuts so far are short of the minimum proposed in a draft agreement to keep temperatures from rising to a dangerous level.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams is in Copenhagen to call for people to show greater respect to each other.

Dr Williams is also calling for a scaling down of the use and waste of energy across the world.

Church bells across Britain and other countries rang 350 times, a number that refers to what many scientists consider a safe level of carbon dioxide in the air.

know Tutu neutral

2009-12-14T02:03:00.000-08:00

CO Tutu neutral

Sunday, 13 December, 2009 15:57 | News | JH | Leave a comment

Desmond Tutu gave an energetic speech on Sunday morning (Photo: Pamela Juhl)

South African spiritual leader addresses City Hall Square crowd

Video: Tutu: \”We want a legally binding agreement\”

Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu swayed the crowd on a chilly Sunday morning with an energetic speech designed to encourage the thousands present to fight climate injustice.

City Hall Square was filled to capacity as Tutu handed over the Countdown to CO2penhagen petition with 500,000 signatures to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer.

But the South African didn’t pull any punches in his simple yet direct speech.

“Hello rich countries – wake up! It’s cheap to finance climate debt. 150 billion dollars a year would do it,” Tutu cried, to wild cheers and applause.

He also called on leaders meeting at the COP15 to agree to at least a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.

Meanwhile, Yvo De Boer gave some insight into what is predominantly on the minds of negotiators.

“I’ve just come from the Bella Center and they’re always talking about the financial crisis. But this is a moral crisis, which could result in a global climate crisis,” De Boer said.

How will Copenhagen be remembered?

2009-12-14T01:59:00.000-08:00

How will Copenhagen be remembered?

Sunday, 13 December, 2009 15:34 | News | JH | Leave a comment

We are in the midst of the largest international event in Copenhagen ever.The delegates are on our doorsteps and many foreign stakeholders and organisations are here. On everyone’s lips is the question – will there be a legally binding treaty, or at least a strong political message and a promise for COP16?

By Janne Aagaard and Johanna Olesen

Come January, when life as we know it gets back to normal, we might all breathe a collective sigh of relief,. Christmas gifts have been unwrapped, the relatives are back home and the cat survived your sister’s three kids. On top of this, the illuminated exhibits and other art statements around Copenhagen are gone, and the numerous police officers have left the streets, the hotels and airport are emptied, the international media folks have vanished to the Next Big Thing. Even our queen of climate, Connie Hedegaard, has left for Brussels and the reach and impact of the new queen in town, [newly-installed climate minister] Lykke Friis, is yet to be determined.

But how will Copenhagen be remembered? The grand idea of a Copenhagen treaty to replace the one from Kyoto is already in tatters since our prime minister eliminated the option even before the conference began.

And if radical groups like Never Trust a Cop get much media attention, the message of civil society’s many and creative ideas on climate change may never get across to the general public. We at People’s Climate Action pray that the many concerts, innovative solutions, cultural events and knowledge sharing will be heard – and may continue to be heard when everyone has left.

Instead, the media wants to know: How many will participate in the demonstrations? Do you plan to cause trouble? Is Copenhagen a safe town?

But what really matters ‘the day after tomorrow’ is not how the media reported the conflicts, but how we all act in everyday life. Will we consider the climate in our daily choices, such as what we eat, what we buy, how to get to work or where we go for our holidays?

The integrity of the decisions made by Mr and Mrs Jensen [i.e. Denmark’s Mr and Mrs Jones] and their kids, every day, is more important. In civil society, a business decision maker or a politician is no different to any of us who do not have as much impact on the climate. We all do. Imagine a procurement manager for a large company. If he always buys organic food for his children, would he choose a supplier that is not Fair Trade for the company’s? Civil society and civil personalities are one and the same.

Consider the possibility that regardless of a COP15 deal or not, our awareness is increased so much about climate issues that people are able to act in a much more climate-friendly way. What if we can be remembered as having helped make that happen?

What people do in their everyday lives is the most powerful force for the climate. Many thinkers, politicians and writers have been stuck in a rut for a long time – but it is the actions of people that really rock the world and the climate. That is what the day after tomorrow is all about.

People’s Climate Action is an umbrella organisation of 40 small and large Danish NGOs with the aim of ensuring that COP15 will have the maximum impact politically, socially, and culturally. They are funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Watch live Copenhagen COP-15 Conference

2009-12-14T01:58:00.000-08:00

Wtach Dec. 13: Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

2009-12-14T01:56:00.002-08:00

Watch Ridley/Copenhagen Conference/12/12/2009

2009-12-14T01:56:00.001-08:00

Copenhagen Conference, Food, Free Trade, Dubai, Osama Ben Laden, 911, Africa

2009-12-14T01:55:00.001-08:00

Copenhagen Climate Conference 2009_12_13_21_09_07

2009-12-14T01:54:00.001-08:00

Live Copenhagen conference 2009

2009-12-14T01:52:00.000-08:00

I am taking a break from talking about language to rant a little bit on the Copenhagen climate conference.

What is the greenhouse effect and global warming?

2009-12-14T01:48:00.000-08:00

The most recent assessment report from the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that the earth’s average temperature has risen by 0.74 degrees in the period from 1906 to 2005, and that the average temperature will continue to rise.

Ministry of Climate and Energy of Denmark

The greenhouse effect is a natural mechanism that retains the heat emitted from the earth’s surface. The earth’s average temperature is at the moment around 14 degrees celsius (57 degrees fahrenheit). If the natural greenhouse effect did not exist, the average temperature would be around minus 19 degrees celsius (minus 2 degrees fahrenheit).

The greenhouse effect is caused by a range of different gases in the earth’s atmosphere. Water vapour makes the most significant contribution to the greenhouse effect, followed by CO₂. The atmospheric content of greenhouse gases – in particular CO₂ – and the consequences for the climate are being discussed because the content of these gases in the atmosphere has risen precipitously in a period covering approximately the latest 250 years, and especially the last 50.

At present the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere is about 385 ppm (parts per million). Before industrialization it was about 280 ppm. Analyses of air contained in ice from the Antarctic ice cap show that there is far more CO₂ in the air today than at any time in the last 650,000 years.

The consequence is that the greenhouse effect is becoming stronger, and therefore the earth is becoming warmer. How much warmer has, however, been a matter of dispute. The most recent assessment report from the IPCC is from 2007. It concludes that the earth’s average temperature has risen by 0.74 degrees in the period from 1906 to 2005. The warming is stronger over land areas than over the sea, and accordingly it is strongest in the northern hemisphere. At the same time occurrences of heat waves and violent downpours have also increased, the oceans have risen, and the ice at the world’s poles and on its mountains has begun to melt. All of these effects are predictable in the event of global warming.

The IPCC’s most recent assessment report concludes that the average temperature will continue to rise, but that the extent and the duration of this rise, and the severity of its consequences, depend on how quickly and how effectively emissions of greenhouse gases can be restricted and, over time, reduced. (Photo: Scanpix/Reuters)

Trends in international climate research since the IPCC’s latest report

2009-12-14T01:40:00.000-08:00

One of the trends of climate research is that it increasingly spreads into other areas than natural science, technology and economics. Social and humanistic research has increasingly begun to address the consequences for society and humans.

Ministry of Climate and Energy of Denmark

Climate research in recent years has to a very great degree supported the overall conclusions of the IPCC’s latest synthesis report: that global warming is a reality, and that a significant factor is the emission of greenhouse gases as a result of human activities. If anything, there is a trend towards a view that the IPCC’s predictions were too cautious. One example is the Arctic sea ice, which in recent years has seen seasonal melting at a far greater speed than was predicted in the IPCC’s latest synthesis report. The same applies to the amount of ice that has melted from the Greenland ice sheet.

Another example is the annual Global Carbon Budget (an estimate of the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted, and how much is being absorbed by the sea or disappearing from the atmosphere by other means), which is compiled by the Global Carbon Project. In September 2008 the budget for 2007 was published. It showed that the quantity of greenhouses gases is increasing faster than in even the most carbon-intensive scenario in the IPCC’s standard scenarios from 2001. At present work is being carried out in scientific circles on new standard scenarios for the IPCC’s next report, which is to show in particular how global greenhouse gas emissions and thereby global warming can be restricted.

Another trend is for climate research increasingly to spread into areas other than natural science, technology and economics. At the same time as global warming has become the subject of global political and commercial focus, social and humanistic research has increasingly begun to address the consequences of a changing climate for society and humans.

A working laboratory for energy technologies

2009-12-14T01:38:00.000-08:00

Energy efficiency in Denmark has been created by a range of new technologies, and today, this can serve as an example of how one can create a high level of growth without a corresponding increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Ministry of Climate and Energy of Denmark

Maybe number eight does not sound like all that much, but there are reasons to look more closely at the Danish example. A top placement among the world’s most energy-efficient and climate-friendly economies has been achieved despite the fact that Denmark does not have any hydroelectric power resources worth mentioning, nor the large forest areas that typically form the basis for a large part of a country’s production of renewable energy. Neither does Denmark use nuclear power, which is a large source of CO2-free energy in other countries in the same group.

Energy efficiency in Denmark has been created by a range of new technologies and solutions, and this can today serve as an example of how one can create a high level of growth without a corresponding increase in energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions.

The means to achieve this has partly been a strong political focus on energy policy. Denmark was one of the first countries to set out detailed plans for developing the energy sector back in the 1970s. Added to this has been the strong commitment of the Danish business sector to developing – and using – energy-efficient solutions. The windmill industry is the best-known example of this, but there is much more. A common-sense approach to energy-efficient measures such as insulating houses and cost savings in production has gone hand in hand with high-tech solutions for the whole society. For example there is an electricity supply system that can handle the fact that windmills supply, in periods, more than 100 per cent of the energy required, and in other periods supply nothing at all. And it can do this in a competitive manner.

The last factor is the strong focus on energy saving and a secure energy supply, which has been the case since the oil crises in the 1970s. In 1985 the Danish parliament (Folketinget) rejected nuclear power and opted to focus on new, sustainable sources of energy. Denmark in 2009 is in many ways a dynamic, working laboratory for the meeting of new energy technologies and old common sense in its relationship with nature. (Photo: Eva Rosenqvist/Scanpix)

Protocol to prevent climate changes and global warming runs out

2009-12-14T01:35:00.000-08:00

In 2012 the Kyoto Protocol to prevent climate changes and global warming runs out. To keep the process on the line there is an urgent need for a new climate protocol. At the conference in Copenhagen 2009 the parties of the UNFCCC meet for the last time on government level before the climate agreement need to be renewed.

Climate friendly city car in front of the Bella Center

Therefore the Climate Conference in Copenhagen is essential for the worlds climate and the Danish government and UNFCCC is putting hard effort in making the meeting in Copenhagen a success ending up with a Copenhagen Protocol to prevent global warming and climate changes.

The Climate Conference will take place in the Bella Center. The conference centre is placed not far from Copenhagen and near the Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup.

Governmental representatives from 170 countries are expected to be in Copenhagen in the days of the conference accompanied by other governmental representatives, NGO's, journalists and others. In total 8000 people are expected to Copenhagen in the days of the climate meeting.

Minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard. Photo: Jakob Dall

The host of the meeting in Copenhagen is the government of Denmark represented by Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister of Climate and Energy and Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. The official sekretariat is placed in connection to The Prime Ministers Office in Copenhagen. Originally the hosting of the climate conference was initiated by the former Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Former Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Photo: Hung Tien Vu

The Danish Government has decided that not only the subject of the conference should be focused on the climate but also the conference itself. Among other initiatives the organizers work on mounting af windmill near the Bella Center to produce climate friendly electricity for the conference.

The conference in Copenhagen is the 15th conference of parties (COP15) in the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The recent meeting in United Nations Climate Change Conferences was held in December 2007 in Bali.

Danish Prime Minister
Lars Løkke Rasmussen

The secretary for the climate conferences is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC - based in the German city Bonn.

An important part of the scientific background for the political decisions taken on the conferences is made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The IPCC is Established to provide the decision-makers and others interested in climate change with an objective source of information about climate change. IPCC is a scientific intergovernmental body set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In 2007 the IPCC received the Nobel Peace Price).

The Climate Conference in Copenhagen is organized in cooperation between the Ministry of Climate and Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister's Office.

The adress of the secretariat for the Climate Conference is:

COP15
The Climate Secretariat
The Prime Minister's Office
Christiansborg
Prins Jørgens Gård 11
1218 København K
Denmark
Tel (+45) 33 92 33 00, Fax (+45) 33 11 16 65
The Official secretariat of the 15th Climate Conference in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Climate Network
Ehlersvej 11
2900 Hellerup
Denmark
Tel (+45) 39 48 18 10, Fax (+45) 39 48 18 01
A Danish network that will underpin the Copenhagen Climate Summit, thus making the 2009 UN climate summit a success for the benefit of sustainable climate policy. The network will use the period before, under and after the Copenhagen Climate Summit to establish networks among businesses, individuals and organisations supporting a climate policy focusing on the environment.

Copenhagen Climate Council
c/ Mandag Morgen
Valkendorsgade 13
Box 1127
1009 Copenhagen K
Tel (+45) 33 93 93 23, Fax (+45) 33 14 13 94
An initiative founded in May 2007 by a group of business leaders and scientists with the aim of helping make the case for a new global climate treaty that will come into force when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol comes to an end in 2012.

Scandal shows science still dominated by politics---copenhagen meeting

2009-12-14T01:31:00.000-08:00

Climate Change: Scandal shows science still dominated by politics

By Kevin Duvall

Published: Monday, December 14, 2009

Updated: Monday, December 14, 2009

Protestors rally outside the Danish parliament in the center of Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday. The largest and most important U.N. climate change conference is underway in Denmark, aiming to secure an agreement regarding global climate change.

In the weeks leading up to the Copenhagen climate conference, the world of climate change was rocked with a scandal after a number of questionable e-mails between prominent climate scientists surfaced.

In these e-mails, some scientists discussed hiding data to make their argument look better and silence skeptics. Some climate change opponents saw this occurrence as an indication that the idea of global warming was fraudulent.

After examining 1,073 e-mails, The Associated Press found nothing in the messages indicating faking climate change data, although the scientists did express some doubts over their claims.

Mark Frankel, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, also took part in the AP investigation, said he too found "no evidence of falsification or fabrication of data, although concerns could be raised about some instances of very ‘generous interpretations.’"

Frankel also said the scientists had an attitude "that unless you’re with them, you’re against them."

In addition to raising questions about climate change, Frankel has nailed another concern regarding every scientific issue.

Despite being frequently viewed with an image of great intelligence and wonder, science is dominated by politics and ideology.

Our society is very divisive in its political culture. Party affiliations are generally tense, and environmental issues are among those that tend to further raise the tension.

Scientists, like anyone else, have political affiliations and biases.

Like many politicians, they view their opponents as enemies when the dividing lines thicken.

The e-mails showed how far divisiveness can go.

One scientist said the only way to deal with skeptics was "continuing to publish quality work in quality journals (or calling in a Mafia hit)," while another said he would be tempted to "beat the crap out of" a particular naysayer the next time the two met.

It is not surprising these scientists said such things, because there is much at stake here: fame, money, prestige and the public perception of which side of the global warming debate is winning.

With all this on the table, climate change debaters have become cutthroat in this decade.

A few years ago, after Al Gore began lobbying heavily for action against global warming, it was discovered that his own energy use was very high.

Obviously, this discovery called the issue into question, but some opponents seemed to think that global warming could not exist because the issue’s biggest public figure was a huge hypocrite.

But Gore’s energy indulgence should not have any bearing on the scientific claims of his position.

Gore’s energy bills did not mean that the science behind his claims was less legitimate.

They simply meant Gore probably cared more about his own lifestyle, politics and status than he did about the environment.

The self-interests of the people involved in an issue should make people question their arguments, but the basis for the issue should be the primary focus (science should be most important in scientific issues, etc.).

But for many ordinary citizens, that is not the case. By putting ideology first, politicians and scientists are failing to sufficiently educate people outside their community on climate change.

I came across a video on Yahoo entitled "The decade according to 9-year-olds," in which a group of fourth-grade students answered questions about people and events of our barely still current decade.

One question was "can anyone explain global warming?"

Two students immediately related global warming to going green, which they said meant recycling and planting trees.

The other student who answered this question said global warming meant that the earth was losing water and people were losing resources.

I’m not going to hold it against a 9-year-old for not understanding the concept, since it is a complex theory, and they are just kids.

The fact that the other two students replied with "green" rhetoric, though, makes me think that the students probably have had very little, if any, explanation of global warming.

I remember first hearing about global warming when I was in fifth grade, with a simple outline of the idea of trapped greenhouse gases.

But these kids only know global warming as a political or social movement – not as a scientific theory.

I have no doubt that many adults are in the same boat.

The ideological battle over climate change could be chalked up to human nature.

I’m not a historical expert, but many civilizations have been built on foundations of competition and self-interest.

It’s hard for people to counteract their self-centered sides when they are in a heated competition such as the climate change issue.

But those receiving the scientists’ messages should remember that all issues have an agenda behind them.

We should always ask for the facts to make our decisions.

See this latest news---Climate Minister threatened to quit

2009-12-14T01:27:00.000-08:00

Climate Minister threatened to quit

Monday, 19 October, 2009 10:21 |

Minister was close to resigning six months ago after being left out of an important climate meeting

A power struggle within the government this past spring led to Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard threatening to resign, according to public broadcaster DR.

According to DR’s investigative journalism programme 21 SØNDAG, Hedegaard was angry about being left out of the loop for an important climate meeting in the US capital of Washington leading up the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
At the time, then-sitting prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen informed the US administration he would send Bo Lidegaard, his own office’s climate representative, to the meeting.

Hedegaard admitted last week that she made specific demands during a heated crisis meeting about Fogh Rasmussen’s decision held on 23 April – chaired by current prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

As a result of the meeting, Hedegaard added, cooperation between the Climate Ministry and the prime minister’s office has greatly improved.

‘It’s a very, very close co-operation we have now, so I therefore have to reject all the interesting speculation there’s been on the subject,’ Hedegaard said.

Let the World Bank manage climate fund---copenhagen

2009-12-14T01:19:00.000-08:00

News

Study: Sea level rises much faster

New estimates of sea level change including the dynamics of the big ice sheets are way higher than the IPCC 2007 estimate (Photo from Sydney Harbour:Scanpix/Reuters) Read more

News

Let the World Bank manage climate fund

The Bangladesh delegation demands allocation from any climate change adaptation fund in proportion to the percentage of its population exposed to climate change. Read more

News

More than 200 activists detained Sunday

Danish police stopped an unauthorized demonstration on a second day of street protests over climate change as environment ministers met for informal talks to advance negotiations on a new pact. (Photo: Scanpix/AFP)