COP15 Day 10

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 ten of the 12-day conference.

Most if not all of the contention around this year’s summit has come from the clash between developing and developed nations. At the centre of this tension, developing nations have been clear about their desire to extend the Kyoto Protocol through 2012. According to India’s environment minister, however, the chance of that extension is all but gone. With Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen presenting a compromise agreement at today’s negotiations, and African delegates presenting the possibility of concessions, the conference’s ultimate result is still very much in question with two days remaining before most world leaders arrive on site.

At this point, the most concrete result of the conference have come out of discussions on deforestation, which has netted billions in funding for rainforest protection. As with the short-term climate change funding committed by the EU through 2012, this money will go primarily toward developing nations. Meanwhile, protesters continue to surround the conference site, with today’s protest provoking particularly aggressive clashes including the use of pepper spray.

Canada’s COP15 position

With Stephen Harper already in Copenhagen and high profile Canadian delegates like Alberta’s Environment Minister, Rob Renner, arriving within days, the ultimate conclusion of Canada’s role at COP15 is imminent. Both The Canadian Centre for Energy Information and NRCan have provided summaries of the provincial energy strategies that form the backdrop of any commitments the country makes on the world stage.

COP15 Day 11