Members of the International Youth Climate Movement are still at the Bella Center, ready to get in some shut-eye. Security’s being nice and polite, delegates are giving them positive reassurance and even John Kerry’s giving them props.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Dec. 17, 2009
Representatives of international youth continue their sit-in to push for a Fair, Ambitious and Legally Binding climate deal at climate conference in Copenhagen.

Since 5pm Copenhagen time, more than twenty international youth have been sitting in the central hallway of the Bella Centre, where the UN climate negotiations are taking place, and demanding that their leaders seal a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate deal.

Since the beginning of the sit-in, the youth have been reading names of the 11 million citizens who have signed the international petition asking for a fair, ambitious and legally binding (FAB) deal in Copenhagen.

The group knows that a FAB treaty can be reached if world leaders throw their political will behind it over the next three days. “As youth, we will not settle for an agreement that is anything less than fair and just. We will not stand by quietly while the survival of vulnerable communities continues to be jeopardized – especially when it is due to a lack of leadership.”

The sit in has received an exceptional amount of support from nearly everyone in the Bella Center, including international party delegates, facility staff, and some notable politicians. “Senator John Kerry was among those who stopped by to shake our hands and express his support for our efforts,” said Dominic McCormack from the US. “I’ve lost count of the number of smiles and thumbs up we’ve received. People are going out of their way show support and make us comfortable.”

From December 15, 2009 Climate Action Network Canada:
Late on December 14, CBC News reported that it had obtained draft presentations to Canada’s federal Cabinet by Environment Minister Jim Prentice. The leaked documents, prepared in recent weeks, describe the minister’s new proposal for regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the oil & gas sector and the “emissions-intensive trade exposed sectors” (i.e., heavy manufacturing and mining) respectively.
Key implications of these documents:
1. For the oil and gas sector, the new proposal is more than three times weaker (in terms of reductions in annual emissions in 2020 below business-as-usual levels) than the government’s 2008 “Turning the Corner” regulatory proposal.
2. The new proposal also appears to be at least three times weaker than Turning the Corner for the manufacturing and mining sectors.
3. Based on the previous two points, it can be concluded beyond doubt that the government is planning not to meet its already weak national GHG emissions target of 20% below 2006 by 2020.
4. The Minister presents the proposal as harmonizing with U.S. policy, but in reality it is far weaker than U.S. policy — not just on targets, but also on other key policy details.
Supporting details:
Under the new proposal, reductions in annual emissions in 2020, relative to business-as-usual, would total 15 megatonnes (Mt) in the oil and gas sector, compared to 48 Mt under Turning the Corner. The new proposal would leave the oil & gas sector’s emissions 37% above the 2006 level in 2020, compared to 6% below under Turning the Corner.

For an existing manufacturing or mining facility, the new proposal is three times weaker than Turning the Corner, in terms of reductions in annual emissions in 2020 below business-as-usual. New facilities would receive free emissions allowances to cover all their emissions, which implies that they would not have to make any reduction in emissions below business-as-usual.

In reality, industrial emissions in 2020 would be even higher than the new, weakened targets, because the new proposal would allow firms to make payments into a technology fund instead of making actual emission reductions.

Environment Canada’s economic analysis published in March 2008 already showed that Turning the Corner fell well short of meeting the government’s national GHG target for 2020. The dramatic further weakening of industry targets in the new proposal would mean that Canada could only meet the government’s national target by making extraordinarily steep emission reductions in sectors like transportation, buildings and agriculture. Since the government clearly has no intention of implementing such draconian policies in those sectors, the new proposal demonstrates that the government has no intention of meeting its national GHG target for 2020.

The documents are presented as a proposal to harmonize Canadian policy with the U.S. Waxman-Markey bill, passsed by the House of Representives in June 2009, and the basis for the bill now being debated in the Senate. But the new proposal is weaker than Waxman-Markey in four major respects:
1. Technology fund. As noted above, the new proposal would allow firms to make payments into a technology fund instead of making actual emission reductions. This option is not included in the Waxman-Markey bill.
2. Treatment of the oil & gas sector. The Canadian proposal categorizes the oil and gas sector as an “emissions intensive, trade exposed” (EITE) sector, opening the door to more generous targets for the sector. In contrast, the leaked documents acknowledge that Waxman-Markey does not consider oil and gas as an EITE sector.
3. Weaker sectoral targets. While Waxman-Markey requires EITE sectors to reduce emissions by 10% below the 2005 level by 2020, the new proposal would require conventional oil & gas as well as oil sands operations to reduce by 10% below business-as-usual levels instead — a much weaker requirement.
4. No auctioning of allowances. The new Canadian proposal would give 100% of emissions allowances to industry free of charge, but Waxman-Markey takes the “polluter pays” approach of requiring firms to buy some allowances through an auction from the outset, with increasing proportions auctioned over time.

*Note: CBC is in possession of these leaked documents and has not yet released them.

Three days left to save the world. 

As dramatic as it sounds, the reality is time is running out to avoid a "Kyoto-style" failure, and with the exile of most NGOs, the heat is on.

As per my bio, I’m here in Copenhagen as part of the Canadian Youth Delegation, tasked with communicating to Canadians about the conference, and to do our part to try to achieve an ambitious, equitable global framework. For myself, that means communicating through this blog not only the activities of the youth delegation, but to provide an alternative perspective and the various voices within the Copenhagen conference that are beyond just reporting country emission cuts.

To achieve those ambitious goals, our days usually begin at 7am catching up on what news outlets are reporting on the conference and later filled with meetings with the Canadian delegation, think-thanks, NGOs and international delegates, often texting and emailing each other the latest news coming out of the plenary sessions. Depending on the state of the negotiations, actions are planned periodically, many the result of late-night coffee-fueled strategy sessions in our tiny hostel concerned with what message we want to get across, how we feel we can affect Canada’s stance at the negotiations. 

With the news that Canada is considering to revise its targets to be lower than what the Conservatives originally proposed, many of the youth delegates were devastated, especially at the notion that the government may have been lying to the public all along of what their original intention was at the Copenhagen negotiations. That’s why many of the youth delegates decided to stage a "lie-in" at the conference, on the second to last day many of us will be allowed into the conference centre.

"Despite the increased awareness, clarified science, and immense global action on the climate problem that the past three years have seen, the Canadian government is moving backwards, and completely free of accountability," summarized Rhiya Trivedi, who had been earlier snubbed by Jim Prentice at the conference centre. "By lying about something of such grave importance, the Canadian Government is breaking the fundamental agreement that exists between a government and its people."

The simple fact, its not easy being a Canadian at these conferences. I’m often asked at least once a day to explain Canada’s climate policy and its lack of ambition, and at other times more harshly, told "GO Canada", as in, physically to leave the conference and to remove our country’s presence.

75% of Canadians are embarrassed at the government’s position on climate change. Here’s hoping that in the next few days as Stephen Harper arrives in Copenhagen, that the message will be heard.

FIRST PLACE: UNITED STATES of AMERICA

The United States has won its first Fossil of the Day at the Copenhagen negotiations for two reasons. One, for making no commitment on long-term financing for developing countries to cope with the impacts of climate change, and also, because the US has among the weakest mid-term emissions of any major developed country, 4% below 1990 levels by 2020 (though still higher than Canada)

SECOND PLACE: EUROPEAN UNION

The EU wins the second-place fossil for failing to address a gaping loophole that undermines its targets: hot air and forest management. "Allowing full carry-over past 2012 of Europe’s hot air-that is, targets based on 1990 levels that in fact allow huge increases in emissions – could allow 11 gigatonnes of carbon emissions," says the press release.

THIRD PLACE: CANADA and SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Arabia and Canada receive the third place fossil of the day for their respective last and second-last finish in the Climate Change Performance Index released today by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe. The Index evaluates 57 industrial and developing countries who release 90% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions..

Breaking news from Copenhagen: Canada becomes a leader on climate change?

I’m afraid not.

In the span of a couple of hours, the biggest news coming out of the Copenhagen negotiations was that Canada was going to drastically change its position on climate change, and commit to a 40% cut from 1990 levels, leaving everyone in shock, even the negotiators themselves.

The Canadian government it seems, became a victim of the a well-orchestrated Yes Men stunt, involving a fake press release, website and Jim Prentice twitter account. Read the Star article about it here.

The Yes Men, a known group of political and business pranksters is said to have organized the stunt. The stunt was so elaborate, that it even had delegates in Copenhagen scratching their heads trying to discern truth from fiction.

The purpose of today’s hoax was to clearly highlight Canada’s unambitious targets that it has held onto for two years with no concrete plan to achieve them and the "non-negotiating" role it has been taking during the Copenhagen negotiations.

So was the stunt a success, despite Dimitri Soudas, spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, calling it "childish"? I would say resoundingly, it was.

Currently the story is on the front page of all the major Canadian news websites, including the Toronto Star, CBC, Canadian Press and the Globe and Mail, and will surely hit the papers tomorrow. But most importantly, it has pushed the Canadian government to defend its climate policy. Though the stunt has given Canada the opportunity to reiterate its line in the media that it is being ‘constructive’, it has sparked dialogue both within Canada and amongst international delegates in Copenhagen about looking closer at Canada’s real position on climate change, which is certainly not something to brag about.

In fact, many delegates and NGOs through mechanisms such as the Fossil of the Day have been trying to highlight that Canada is really not punching its weight on the international stage and this action only served to do it again on a much larger, much more effective stage.

Furthermore, and maybe more importantly, the effect of the stunt has given Canadians a taste of what Canada’s climate policies can be, instead of holding the reputation of the international pariah the country has acquired at these negotiations.

Potential draw backs? Pushing Canada into a corner to vigorously defend its weak targets in response to the stunt might make them even less likely to warm up to the idea of pushing for ambitious targets and comprehensive planning to achieve those targets, and deal with such sticky issues as the tar sands.

The lasting effects of this over the next few days, especially concerning Canada’s position in Copenhagen remains unclear. What remains clear now though, is that many more Canadians, and certainly many delegates here after the Germanwatch report (which ranked Canada 56/57 countries on climate action just ahead of Saudi Arabia), are now waking up to the fact that Canada is flagrantly lacking an effective climate policy, and that Canada’ international reputation is certainly taking a hit.

The journalist touted with launching the anti-globalization movement met with Canadian youth in Copenhagen to discuss our country’s role in the climate treaty negotiations and the need for large-scale change.

Klein highlighted the need for the issue of the Tar Sands to be brought to the table before an honest and fair conversation on our climate’s future may begin.

Full story here.

This earth is great. It’s used for growing crops and burying evidence. However, at the Copenhagen climate treaty negotiations Canada is not on board.

With Canada consistently taking an obstructionist role at these negotiations, civil society has been unable to motivate negotiators to take on a constructive role by appealing to their emotions or ethics. At the moment, Canada’s position denies the human rights implication involved in this climate crisis.

A young man from the Maldives asked an audience at the UN “Would you commit murder, although your victim begs for mercy?”.  While Harper does his best to insist he is just like any other human that enjoys breathing oxygen and consuming earth food for energy – no amount of photos singing in Bollywood or playing with kittens can erase the legacy of injustice and human rights transgressions that Stephen Harper is writing for us.

Wednesday…half way through the first week. Already security is tighter, delegates are sleep deprived and things are just getting started! I honestly haven’t had a moment to sit down and write a blog until this morning. Things move at warp speed – there are meetings all day, about a hundred booths with various organizations offering information, e-mails to answer, activities going on all over the city, on top of trying to take a moment to step back and take this all in. As a first time delegate I would be lying if I said I had a grip of things…my tactic is to simply try everything – attend various meetings to see what goes on, walk around the booths to see what is offered, participate in all the actions I can and try to do some blogging. I haven’t done anything twice and there is still so much more to see and do. As a youth delegate I know that just my presence here is valuable. There is definitely an urgent feeling in the room…we all know what is at stake. One thing I didn’t understand was that there are several negotiators who believe in the youth message and support us. I had an ‘us versus them’ mentality in my mind before coming. But yesterday I heard the chair of the AWG-LCA (group that negotiates a new text for a climate deal) speak. He is a fabulous man who said he does this work for his children and grandchildren and it was clear that he is committed to working towards the same goal as youth. I can tell you that we are doing EVERYTHING possible to put pressure on negotiators, get news back to Canada and represent youth here in Copenhagen. Our team is always off doing various media work, actions, and attending meetings during the day. It is always so nice to see familiar faces among the thousands of people here. It reassures me that I am part of a forceful group who demands to been seen and heard. You can be confident that and rest assured that we are fighting for you!