16 December 2009 newsflash

news from the inside

Newsflash from the COP15 talks 11am GMT

We are in the COP15 meeting and it's getting down to brass tacks now. Because the countries haven’t reached agreement on a whole range of big issues  Connie Hedegaard, the President of the COP15, has just resigned to be replaced by the Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

Seasoned delegates here explained to us that this means Connie can go and have informal consultations in the backrooms while endless speeches from heads of state take place today. The delegates asked for another day to negotiate but Connie said they can’t have it.

The Brazilian negotiator asked when we will see the texts for the ammended Kyoto protocol and the new Copenhagen agreement so that we can begin discussion based on the texts.

China said this is a grave issue of trust between the parties. There is no transparency. The host country has put forward a new text. This way of proceeding has not involved the parties and is opposed by the parties. The Maldives said we have been negotiating for years.  China and others said we support the statement made by Brazil, China and India that we must follow the Bali action plan which is a bottom up,transparent , double track process. We are not ready to accept or rubber stamp a text coming out of the blue.

The Danish Prime Minister said that the world expects us to come to an agreement on climate change and not just be talking about procedure. He is obviously not up to speed like Connie was and has to keep being briefed by a civil servant whispering in his ear to make sure he follows the correct procedure.

The Chinese negotiator said It not just procedure, it's substance. It is about the respect of the host for the 192 parties. We agreed before this meeting the only legitimate way forward is to use the outcomes of the working groups. We have all come here with a strong determination for the Copenhagen to be a success.

The Danish Prime Minister said we have to get on with the speeches from the world leaders. He said there is a meeting of the COP at midday GMT. We do not intend to put any text on the table from the sky. People around the world are expecting something from us. The papers will fully reflect the input of all the parties.

Lars Lokke Rasmussen concluded by saying "There is hope, the world leaders are coming. We are indeed one planet, we all have the same fate."

Meanwhile outside police are firing tear gas to try and break up the demonstrations. We were a bit worried as Freya was queuing to get in, but she decided to go back to the Klima Forum because "It's all a bit of a mess there".

We really hope they can get their act together and come to an agreement soon for all our sakes.

Sue Riddlestone
Executive Director and co-founder