Nicholas Stern, chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, at the Mayor's Summit. Credit: Stephen Leahy/TerraViva

By Stephen Leahy

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) On its current carbon emissions path, humanity faces a 50-percent chance of warming the planet a whopping 5.0 degrees C by the end of this century, warned Nicholas Stern, an economist who is chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.

“Hundreds of millions of people will be forced to move. It will be the most severe global conflict in human history. That is what the science is telling us,” said Stern, author of the well-known Stern Review, the 2006 report that documented the effect of global warming on the world economy.

Humanity’s other option is to embrace a new energy revolution unlike anything ever seen. Continue Reading

Evo Morales in press conference. Credit: Raúl Pierri/IPS

Raúl Pierri

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela had harsh words for rich countries Wednesday, accusing them of driving the COP 15 talks to the brink of failure out of “selfishness” and supporting a “culture of death.” Continue Reading

Mithika Mwenda: 'This is going to create dissent, and then those who are bent on dividing Africa will succeed.' Credit: Nasseem Ackburally/IPS

Ethiopian president Meles Zenawi was chosen by African leaders to champion a united African position.
But Zenawi has provoked outrage from campaigners by issuing a joint statement with the French president Nicholas Sarkozy that falls well short of the Africa Group’s demands for emissions cuts or  long-term financial commitments to support mitigation, adaptation and other  measures in the developing world.
Nasseem Ackburally interviewed one of those most disappointed by Zenawi’s action, Mithika Mwenda, from the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance.

El gremialista francés José Bové y el presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales. Crédito: Raúl Pierri/IPS

Por Raúl Pierri

COPENHAGUE (IPS/TerraViva) Los presidentes Evo Morales, de Bolivia, y Hugo Chávez, de Venezuela, dirigieron el miércoles duras palabras a los gobiernos de países ricos, acusándolos de arrastrar al fracaso a la COP-15 por su “egoísmo” y su defensa de la “cultura de la muerte”.

“El objetivo científicamente sustentable de reducir la emisión de gases contaminantes y lograr un convenio de cooperación a largo plazo, a todas luces, hoy a esta hora, parece haber fracasado”, afirmó el mandatario venezolano ante el plenario de la COP-15 (15 Conferencia de las Partes de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático). Continue Reading

Farmers from across Africa share their stories on how climate changes have changed their lives for the worst during Pan African Climate hearings held in Cape Town, South Africa.

Activists are calling for a reduction in the use of fossil fuels, far beyond what has so far been put on the table by polluters. Joshua Kyalimpa was on the scene for  the Copenhagen Flood for Climate Justice.

Joshua Kyalimpa was there.

By Jonathan Springston

ATLANTA, Georgia, U.S. (IPS/TerraViva) As governments negotiate future greenhouse gas emissions in Copenhagen, a recent report from Environment America has highlighted the problem of the nation’s older coal-fired power plants, which generated nearly three-quarters of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in 2007.

Altogether, U.S. power plants dumped 2.56 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the air in 2007.

Of the nation’s 25 dirtiest power plants, 10 are in the South – and all but one of those was built before 1980. The nation’s dirtiest power plant, the Southern Co.’s Plant Scherer in South Georgia, emitted more than 27.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2007. Continue Reading

Protesters demanded that developed countries respect Kyoto Protocol commitments and reduce emissions. Credit: Servaas van den Bosch/IPS

By Claudia Ciobanu and Servaas van den Bosch

COPENHAGEN (IPS/Terra Viva) – Fed up with the lack of progress in the climate negotiations, campaigners marched on the Bella Centre. NGOs at the negotiations staged a walkout to connect with civil society outside, but police violently broke up this ‘people’s assembly’ and arrested the ringleaders.

A morning of protest started around 10.30 at the Bella Centre with a sit-in of ninety members of international environmental NGO Friends of the Earth (FOE), who despite having access passes to the conference venue were excluded for security reasons. Continue Reading

Analysis by Darryl D’Monte

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) – Much of the discussion in Copenhagen has revolved around targets and deadlines for cutting carbon emissions. But a weekend seminar in the idyllic Danish island of Samsoe, titled “Future Energy,” helped journalists locate the problem in the context of the world’s biggest emitters.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) drew out future scenarios, assuming that all these countries did not exceed 450ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide, which is considered the cap to prevent irretrievable climate change. Many developing countries believe 350ppm is a safer option. Continue Reading

Edouard Yao: "Après Copenhague, c’est une bataille qui débutera, un défi qu’il faudra relever." Credit: Fulgence Zamblé/IPS

Fulgence Zamblé s’entretient avec EDOUARD YAO, coordinateur de Côte d’Ivoire

ABIDJAN (IPS/TerraViva) - En dépit d’une marche de mobilisation contre les changements climatiques avortée dans la capitale économique ivoirienne, Abidjan, pour des raisons d’organisation, Edouard Yao, coordinateur Côte d’Ivoire de l’organisation non gouvernementale LEAD Africa, ne démord pas.

Pour lui, les populations africaines ont besoin d’être largement informées sur la question climatique. Ce pourquoi, depuis l’ouverture des négociations de Copenhague, au Danemark, l’organisation dont il est le coordinateur organise dans cinq villes africaines des séances de visualisation en direct de Copenhague, suivies d’exposés et de débats en ligne et hors ligne. Continue Reading

Civil society demonstration in Copenhagen. Credit: Ana Libisch/IPS

By Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING (IPS/TerraViva) – China is not happy. This is how one of the Chinese state-sanctioned newspapers summed up Beijing’s feelings about the week spent negotiating on climate change in the Danish capital.

After a very public showdown with the United States in the early days of the global climate talks, China found itself attacked by smaller developing countries for benefiting more than anyone else from carbon credit funding. And as the countdown to the end of negotiations began, Beijing was seen deflecting criticism that it was the stumbling block to reaching a deal. Continue Reading

By Athar Parvaiz

COPENHAGEN  (IPS/TerraViva) – If some Asian states appeared to be disunited in the lead-up to the climate change talks currently underway in Copenhagen, now they are rising in unison to get the developed world to accede to their demands.

Asian countries had shown least cooperation in the past, but climate change seems to have united them,” said Rajesh Mehta, a climate campaigner from India, who works with Action Aid International, a global anti-poverty organisation. Continue Reading