Copenhagen week 2: Final countdown

18.12.2009

Clare Hinkley

My highlight of conference yesterday? Definitely Thom York, musical genius of Radiohead fame, on The Stupid Show. And if as Ben said you're wondering "is he just talking or playing" - there's a beautiful performance clip at 1m 29 secs. But without doubt the summit's biggest star of all will be President Obama, arriving today - and it's crunch time for discussions about funding for poorer countries, and China's international monitoring commitments.

Interesting conference sketch from Andrew Ward in the FT today, noting that amongst all the hubub around the US and China, one of the most fascinating aspects of conference has been the emergence of international players from smaller countries "revelling in their newfound role as swing voters between the west and big emerging economies" - Mohamed Nasheed, the president of the Maldives and Lumumba Di-Aping, the Sudanese head of the G77 group of nations. Ward wonders if Copenhagen will be looked back on as the beginning of a new "multipolar" world era.

The Stupid Show also features Tony Juniper with a leaked document assessing what the temperature impact would be of current commitments on the table - a leaked UN document says existing pledges would lead to at least a 3 degree increase - which puts us into the territory of runaway climate change and no turning back (deforestation, extreme weather, population displacement).

Talks are now likely to continue to Saturday. And the stakes couldn't be higher.

Posted by Clare Hinkley

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