Copenhagen Day 8: Full Swing and Tensions

I started today in a throng outside trying to get into the Bella Center. There are reportedly more than 25,000 people accredited to be here and as heads of state start arriving on Wednesday, NGOs are going to be shut out. We are already having our delegations slashed for security and space. In the midst of the madness in the lines, the United States was taking a typical beating with a vivid demonstration in the front of the Bella Center.

The negotiations are in a very precarious spot. The African nations moved to suspend discussions because developed countries are trying to sideline the Kyoto Protocol extension process and Kyoto is of course the only global treaty on climate change -- they won't give it up 'til they have something binding to replace it. The AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) reportedly doesn’t support the African nations' move to suspend talks, which could mean that divisions are emerging in the G77 bloc of developing countries. Here’s footage of the Bella Center solidarity actions in support of the African countries from NGOs and youth worldwide:

The most heated discussions in Copenhagen continue to be the same: developing countries calling for an extension of the Kyoto Protocol and a new binding treaty, and calling for much stronger emissions reductions targets and financing from the industrialized countries like the U.S. Meanwhile, the U.S. and the European Union aren’t budging.

Also this morning, I worked with a range of allies like Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, the Energy Action Coalition and Avaaz, to prepare a global campaign calling for more long term investments in financing adaptation, clean technology transfer and avoided deforestation. Outrageously, the U.S. spends more than $10 billion of taxpayer money per year on subsidies to fossil fuel companies, and the Copenhagen climate talks are on the brink of falling apart because developing countries can't afford to green their economies without financial help. Please join our campaign urging President Obama to shift fossil subsidies to climate finance, and 1Sky teams will work with allies to deliver the message in Washington, DC and to the climate negotiators in Copenhagen.

In other news, I nominated the United States for a first place Fossil of the Day today and they won… sad but true. Here’s the text we proposed for the ceremony:

The USA wins its first Fossil of the COP for two reasons: first, for making absolutely no commitment on long-term financing for developing countries, a failure that could sink the talks. Second, because the U.S. -- far and away the biggest cumulative emitter of global warming pollution in world history -- has among the weakest emissions targets of any major developed country, a laughable 4% below 1990 levels by 2020 despite the growing chorus of calls for 40%+ cuts from rich countries. Do U.S. negotiators represent the U.S. fossil fuel lobby? Or will they bring the U.S. into the community of nations, rich and poor alike, rising to the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced? United States, all eyes are on you: is it Hopenhagen or Brokenhagen?