Gulf oil ministers rose to defend fossil fuels as the bedrock of world energy supplies yesterday even as some clean-energy proponents forecast the arrival of a post-petroleum world.

Ministers from Qatar and the UAE told the World Future Energy Summit that clean energy would complement, rather than replace oil and natural gas.

Their comments clashed with predictions from others at the conference that continued growth in consumption of fossil fuels and resulting carbon emissions will cause unstoppable climate change, and the world must move quickly to replace the use of oil in transport and heating.

Abdullah al Attiyah, the Qatari minister of energy and deputy premier, forcefully pushed back against what he said was an attempt to “scapegoat” fossil fuels producers.

“Why did Copenhagen fail? It’s because when you go there you feel that someone is trying to create a scapegoat,” he said, referring to last month’s climate talks in the Danish capital. “You try to blame oil and gas producers.”

Read more here.

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Adding to the growing flux of carbon emissions into the atmosphere is the burst of hot air issuing from the world’s most powerful leaders who, to the dismay of the G77 countries, reached an ‘11th hour agreement between 27 key countries on a watered-down declaration’, reports Denmark’s Politiken.

South Africa’s Mail & Guardian writes that Sudan’s delegation spoke in less euphemistic terms, saying that the results of the brokered accord in Africa ‘would be like the Holocaust by causing more deadly floods, droughts, mudslides, sandstorms and rising seas.’ According to Sudan’s Lumumba Stanislaus Di-aping, the document ‘is a solution based on the same very values, in our opinion, that channelled six million people in Europe into furnaces.’

Despite Sudan’s strong language, which received a rebuke from Sweden’s chief negotiator Anders Turesson, Bangladesh’s The Daily Star confirms the G77’s opinion that the deal is ‘inadequate.’

As The Guardian writes:

The deal was brokered between China, South Africa, India, Brazil and the US, but late last night it was still unclear whether it would be adopted by all 192 countries in the full plenary session.

The agreement aims to provide $30bn in funding for poor countries to adapt to climate change from next year to 2012, and $100bn a year after 2020.

But it disappointed African and other vulnerable countries who had been holding out for far deeper emission cuts to hold the global temperature rise to 1.5C this century. As widely expected, all references to 1.5C in previous drafts were removed at the last minute, but more surprisingly, the earlier 2050 goal of reducing global CO2 emissions by 80% was also dropped.

It would appear, then, that the developed countries lacked the ‘moral leadership’ Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed called for during a meeting with President of the European Commission, Mr José Manuel Durão Barroso. Miadhu News, in fact, states that in ‘referring to the EU’s commitment to reducing emissions by 20% by 2020 and by 30% when other developed countries make comparable efforts, President Nasheed stated that the 30% target should not be conditional.’

However, New Scientist writes in its blog that the result of this much-hyped gathering is a ‘draft text [which] is the most vague we’ve seen so far, with all specific targets for cutting emissions stripped out, replaced by a list of the commitments that various nations have already made.’

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Wealthy nations at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen appear to be coalescing around the number 100 billion as their final offer to the developing world including China – although whether a dollar, pound or euro sign comes in front of the figure despite the variance in currency valuations is another story.

On Thursday, in attempt to push forward stalled talks in the Danish capital, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said Washington was ready to embrace the idea of $100 billion (€70 billion) in funds to developing countries to help them tackle climate change.

“The US is prepared to work with other countries to jointly mobilise $100 billion a year by 2020,” Ms Clinton told reporters.

The number, if not the actual sum, echoes the EU’s offer of €100 billion for the third world on the table since the autumn and Britain’s suggestion dating back to July of £100 billion (€112 billion).

But where the EU figure has been offered without conditions, the American number requires a quid pro quo from other powers, notably China and other emerging countries such as India and Brazil.

“In the absence of an operational agreement that meets the requirement that I outlined there will not be the final commitment that I outlined – at least from the United States,” warned Ms Clinton.

The US wants at least the more advanced developing countries to commit to promises of steeper reductions in greenhouse gas emissions growth and in particular to a process that verifies the cuts have actually been made.

The developing world says they are happy to move to a low-carbon development path, but they say that those responsible for the crisis must pay for this transition and that only those actions taken that are funded by the west should have to be reviewed in this way and that any supplementary measures taken should not.

China has promised reductions of between 40 and 45 percent in their “carbon intensity” in relation to their GDP growth, but what this actually means remains unclear.

The EU wants more transparency from China in this regard in terms of which greenhouse gases they mean, which industrial sectors this will apply to and what sort of GDP metrics.

The issue of climate finance has been one of the biggest – although by far not the only – stumbling block in negotiations.

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Another drama has been averted today at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen, where the African and poorer countries are reported to have temporarily boycotted meetings on the future of the Kyoto Agreement, says Politiken.

But after a meeting with Climate Summit Minister Connie Hedegaard, negotiators decided to resume talks, according to TV2.

African countries in particular have been incensed in recent days over what they see as the meagre progress of the summit and in particular the funding so far on the table. At the same time, they are unhappy with the reluctance among industrialised nations to prolong the Kyoto Agreement.

As a result, the countries decided to boycott further meetings on the future of Kyoto, but have now resumed meetings.

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Tensions between rich and poor nations at the Copenhagen climate negotiations have boiled to the surface with the leaking of a “secret” draft agreement prepared by the Danish host government and a select “circle of commitment” including Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, writes The Australian.

The leaked document rocked the United Nations conference as it settled down to its first full day of talks, with developing countries expressing outrage at its contents, and at the fact that it had been developed behind closed doors by the so-called “friends” of the Danish conference chair, Mr Rudd, UN secretary Ban Ki Moon and leaders from other countries including the UK, Sweden, Mexico.

The Danish Government protested that there was no “secret draft for a new Copenhagen Agreement” but rather “many working papers used for testing various positions”.

Privately negotiators were furious that developing nations had resorted to such a “hostile act” because they were nervous about possible outcomes in a final climate deal.

But despite the hosts’ attempts to hose down the leak, it has ignited tensions that were not expected to spark until the top-level leaders segment of the talks next week.

Despite all the controversy, the draft “Copenhagen Agreement” contains many elements of a strong political deal, although it leaves blank critical emission reduction commitments and the amounts to be paid into new funding for developing countries for final determination.

It includes a commitment to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius and – in brackets to acknowledge it is not yet fully agreed – the proposition that global emissions should peak in 2020.

But developing countries and conservationists were deeply concerned that it did not set a timetable for a final binding agreement, nor specify that such an agreement should be in the form of a legally binding treaty, nor propose a future role for the existing Kyoto Protocol.

Instead it says the deal should lead to a “comprehensive legal framework” by an unspecified date.

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The United Nations Climate boss Yvo de Boer says that the 193 countries that are taking part in the COP15 Climate Summit have to speed up their negotiations, reports Politiken.

“As soon as this conference is over, things have to happen. So my call to people is that they should use this first week to get all the basic work done,” Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer says at a news conference on the second day of the summit.

Negotiators have been working for months to reach agreement on texts, work that is now reaching a climax prior to the arrival in Copenhagen next week of heads of state and government.

One of the main issues at stake is ways to finance efforts by poor countries to mitigate climate change. Developing and industrial countries remain at loggerheads as to how much transfer funding is needed to help developing countries.

“I am sure that the conference will result in action and support for the developing countries. There is an immediate need of USD 10 billion in 2010, 2011 and 2012. And much greater funding in the future. I sense a growing understanding about this,” de Boer says.

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As the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen kicks off, one thing is clear: for millions of people around the world climate change is not simply a future threat, it is a current reality.

In my role as the United Kingdom’s International Development Secretary, I’ve met people around the world who are living with the consequences of climate change – from families in Bangladesh forced to leave their flooded homes, to women in parts of Ethiopia who are walking further each year to collect water for their families.

In Uganda the climate crisis threatens the very activities that have underpinned Uganda’s strong economic growth and poverty reduction. Coffee, a very important export for Uganda and a major source of income for subsistence farmers is becoming more difficult to grow. Droughts are becoming more common, leading to loss of animals, low production of milk, food insecurity, and increased food prices.

People living in the developing world are the least responsible for climate change, yet they are already most affected by it. As we look to the future it is clear that climate change will increasingly hit poor people hardest.

By 2020, some countries across Africa could see the yields from rain-fed agriculture fall by a half. By 2035, parts of the Himalayan glaciers, which provide water to 1.5 billion people across Asia, could have disappeared. By 2080, an extra 400 million people could be exposed to the threat of malaria.
Climate change threatens to make poverty the future for millions of people. That is why the government of the United Kingdom believes that the world has not only a common interest, but also a moral responsibility to people in the most vulnerable countries, to secure a fair deal on climate change.

To keep global temperature rises below 2 degrees centigrade will mean nothing less than a 50 per cent reduction in global emissions by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. This will require a firm commitment from rich nations to significant cuts in emissions – for developed countries do bear the greatest responsibility for the emissions we have seen over the past century. A deal will also need to involve developing countries – because the greatest growth in emissions over coming decades will be in such countries.

At the same time we must agree a strong deal on climate finance, to help developing countries both adapt to the now-inevitable effects of climate change, and get their economies on a low-carbon path to growth.

Read more from Douglas Alexander’s article in Uganda’s Daily Monitor.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen says that he is ‘really happy’ that President Obama has decided to take part in the summit of heads of state and government due to take place at the end of the COP15 United Nations Climate Summit which starts in Copenhagen on Monday.

The White House announced late last night that Obama will be taking part in the final summit of the meeting on Friday December 18 – a development that Løkke Ramussen says shows ‘a growing political momentum towards reaching an ambitious climate agreement in Copenhagen’, reports Politiken.

“President Obama’s strong focus on climate change and his global leadership is decisive for the negotiations in Copenhagen. I look forward to welcoming President Obama in Copenhagen along with other world leaders,” Løkke Rasmussen says.

So far, 103 heads of state and government have announced that they will be taking part in the final days of the COP15 conference.

Meanwhile, Politiken reports that as a prevention against the expected sex boom caused by the Copenhagen Climate Summit, Copenhagen Council and Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard have sent postcards out to 160 Copenhagen hotels urging COP15 guests and delegates to ‘Be sustainable – don’t buy sex’. In retaliation, Copenhagen prostitutes have now offered free sex to anyone who can produce one of the offending postcards and their COP15 identity card.

Almost seven in 10 Chinese are willing to pay a higher price for energy and other products to mitigate climate change, even though only about three in 10 think it is a “serious problem”, says China Daily.

A World Bank poll that covered 15 nations, however, shows the majorities of the people, especially in the developing world, want their governments to take steps to fight global warming, even if that entails costs.

The majorities in all countries support “limiting the rate of constructing coal-fired power plants, even if it raises the cost of energy.” In China, which is highly reliant on coal, 68 percent support the measure. Across the 15 countries, on average 68 percent support the idea (31 percent strongly) and 26 percent oppose it (8 percent strongly).

Pollsters approached 1,010 people in nine provinces and municipalities of China, 68 percent of whom said they were willing to pay a fixed amount equal to 1 percent per capita GDP for energy and other products as part of taking steps to combat climate change. But only 28 percent considered global warming to be a “serious problem”, though nearly half saw it as “somewhat serious”.

Respondents in the US have slightly higher awareness than the Chinese, with 31 percent saying it was “very serious”.

In contrast, about 90 percent of the respondents in Mexico and 85 percent in Bangladesh said it was a “very serious matter”.

People said they would support public steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions and expedite adaptation measures. For example, they said they would support higher fuel efficiency standards for cars, preserving or expanding forests and extending funding to vulnerable countries so they could develop hardier crops suited to more severe climates.

Read more here.

Over the past year the countries of Africa have intensified their efforts to build a coalition on climate change. Across the continent, governments and communities have been working to ensure that their concerns and expectations are heard at the Copenhagen climate negotiations later this month.

Africa is highly vulnerable to climate change. In our lifetimes, climate shifts will likely inflict severe damage to human welfare in a continent already battling with entrenched poverty, degraded ecosystems and civil strife.

But Africa’s potential to help tackle climate change is both largely unrecognized and unrealized. For instance, thanks to the forest cover and rich topsoil found in many African countries, the region represents a major carbon storehouse. African forests take in 20 percent of the carbon that is absorbed by trees across the world. Its soil stores at least as great a share of the planet’s carbon produced by agriculture.

Climate change management thus offers a number of “win-win” opportunities for African countries both to reduce the adverse effects of climate change and address some of their deep-rooted development concerns such as access to energy, food security and the prevention of crises and conflicts.

While these key issues should serve as the core pillars of Africa’s engagement in the negotiations, the next question is how to transform these opportunities into concrete actions and results.

Africa will require urgent support for the formulation of climate change strategies as well as upfront financing to take effective measures for adaptation and mitigation.

Read more here.

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