COP15 Day 4

To make sense of all the information coming out of the COP15 conference in Copenhagen, Flow will be running a series of daily blog entries to keep you up-to-date on the latest news from the largest climate change event in the world. Today is day four of the 12-day conference.

First a Danish draft agreement caused a stir and now another draft agreement, this time an accord drafted by China, India, South Africa and Brazil is shaking things up. Drafted in November, the accord calls for developed nations to “multiply by eight” their emissions reductions under Kyoto, contrasting the decreased onus on developed nations seen in the Danish “Copenhagen Agreement.” Under that agreement, more control over emission targets would be transferred to the World Bank, which is seen as an increase in control by industrialized nations.

The Group of 77, primarily constituted by developing nations, made a very public declaration again today, calling on US President Barack Obama to increase the ambitiousness of its emissions targets and increase funding for climate change action. Given the global scope of climate change, expect further fissures between developed and developing nations to emerge. And fashion designers too, apparently.

A fashion show launched The Nordic Initiative Clean and Ethical (NICE), a commitment by the Nordic fashion industry to improve their environmental and social responsibility. While it’s harder to take a group of designers chiming into the proceedings than, say, 77 of the world’s developing nations, cotton production does account for 25 per cent of global pesticide use. Either way, as the public posturing continues, it seems appropriate to have at least one group represented that poses professionally.

And if staying aware of the goings on at COP15 seems exhausting from across the pond, just imagine the added difficulty in trying to raise it yourself by biking around the world. Kim Nguyen travelled 15,000 km from Brisbane, Austrilia and arrived at the conference four days ago. The rest of us can just probably just keep up with Flow.

COP15 Day 5