Our Climate Change Program Manager Tony Mohr and Climate Campaigner Owen Pascoe will be in Copenhagen for the full two weeks of the UN negotiations. In the second week they will be joined by Executive Director Don Henry and Media Adviser Josh Meadows.

Bookmark this page to read the team’s daily updates from Copenhagen.

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Watch the video coverage at AusConservationTV

Sunday 20 December - Owen Pascoe, Climate Change Campaigner

We are not done yet

It has been an intense two days of to-ing and fro-ing in Copenhagen. I’m writing this at 4pm on Saturday and it began at 10am on Friday.

Sadly there were only 50 representatives from environment and development groups allowed inside the building as security clamped down for the arrival of world leaders. So we set up a nerve centre in the lobby of our hotel to share information.

The first thing I saw on Friday morning lifted my spirits – the great photos from Federation Square where hundreds had gathered to ring bells in hope of success in Copenhagen.

It was pegged to be an immense final day in Copenhagen.

Rumours of a potential weak deal were flying. We racked our brains for how to get one final message through to the Australian delegation.

George Woods from CANA came up with the idea. I donated an old mobile phone and we sent the number to hundreds of people asking them to send text messages to the Australian delegation. As George handed it over to the officials it was furiously beeping as hundreds of text messages flooded in asking Australia to ‘Rescue Copenhagen!’

Thanks to everyone that got involved. It put a smile on our faces on a rough day.

The negotiators meetings continued furiously inside the Bella Center. The first versions of the Copenhagen Accord started appearing.

It looked like a weaker political agreement, however there were a couple of things to salvage, including possible lists of 2020 targets and a commitment to make the deal legally binding in 2010.

Much later in the day, we heard that these two useful elements had been dropped leaving a deal that was non-binding and without 2020 or 2050 goals. The bright spots were goals of keeping warming below 2 degrees and raising $100 billion to help developing countries deal with climate change, but there aren’t any details on how we’ll get to these.

At 11.30am, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao took the stand. He was followed by President Lula of Brazil and the man everyone had been waiting for – President Obama. All committed to act on climate change regardless of the outcome of Copenhagen. The speeches revealed that a deal was in the balance, but not the one we were hoping for.

I took a break during a quiet part of the evening to join the tcktcktck campaign in one last action. Hundreds of people had gathered to send a message of disappointed at the weak deal coming out of the Bella Centre, spelling out the words ‘Climate Shame’ with candles and torches. The tcktcktck campaign and youth movement in Copenhagen have done an amazing job here in Copenhagen and should be proud of what they achieved.

Back at the Bella Centre things were still hotting up. Obama came on to do a press conference at 10.45pm. We crowded around a laptop in the lobby of our hotel in anticipation. We knew that this would be a key announcement. Once out in the open from the President's mouth it would be difficult for improvements to be made. Unfortunately there wasn’t much good news in his announcement. Minutes after Obama finished speaking we saw the Presidential motorcade zoom past our hotel on the way to the airport.

The final meeting of the conference was a wild ride that began at 3am and lasted 12 hours. I counted myself lucky to get two hours of sleep at one point.

Tuvalu again showed incredible courage for the survival of their homeland. They made an impassioned speech saying it was like they were being offered 30 pieces of silver in exchange for the future, and that their future was not for sale. They made it clear that they could not support the weak deal and world leaders needed to come back next year to try again.

Negotiations continued all night and all morning. About 1pm in the afternoon it became clear that the UN Copenhagen Conference would recognise the Copenhagen Accord, but with Tuvalu and others standing firm in their opposition to the weak deal.

It was a disappointing result after two solid years of negotiations since the high point of the Bali Action Plan and millions and millions of people calling for their world leaders to act through petitions, emails, letters and marches around the world.

But we are not done yet.

There is a pathway forward for these negotiations to continue and there are thousands of campaigners who are now better trained, better informed and able to work more closely together to make sure our political leaders deliver what the people are demanding – real action on climate change. I look forward to working with all you.

Friday 18 December - Owen Pascoe, Climate Change Campaigner

Rays of hope in Copenhagen

I was lucky enough to attend an event tonight with Al Gore for The Climate Project presenters that have been trained to deliver his slideshow.

He summed up my experience in Copenhagen perfectly when he talked about the swings between hope and despair we’ve all been experiencing as the latest news or rumour comes around the Bella Centre.

We have all been tempted to despair this week as we’ve waited for countries to rise to the challenge of solving the climate crisis.

But today we had a few rays of hope.

We woke to find Copenhagen blanketed with thick snow, which was reflecting the sunlight and brightening the day. The city looked refreshed and ready for change.

We got our first small step forward in Kevin Rudd’s speech to the UN where for he gave a strengthened commitment from Australia to extending the Kyoto Protocol, linked to a Copenhagen Accord. This was a significant move, which was later backed by other world leaders.

Just a few hours later we got the news that Hilary Clinton had committed the US’s support to a $100 billion fund per year by 2020 to help poor countries deal with climate change. This was a good step forward towards the $150 billion a year ACF has been pushing for.

We also had speeches from the leaders of Indonesia, China and France indicating that countries were willing to nudge up their ambition and work with each other.

While these were not the giant leaps that we need to making in Copenhagen they do show that world leaders can build some foundational steps right now.

The final day of Copenhagen tomorrow will be crucial. World leaders will have the opportunity to make history and set in place the foundations of a real and ambitious global effort to solve the climate crisis.

Our own Kevin Rudd must step up and commit Australia to cutting emissions by at least 25% by 2020, give his support to a strong climate change finance program and not allow loopholes to make their way into the agreement.

Tomorrow will be the ultimate leadership test.

Thursday 17 December – Professor Ian Lowe, President

History will not absolve us if we fail

My day started with a breakfast meeting where Kevin Rudd explained to many of the Aussies in town what he hopes to achieve.

Inside the COP, working groups had been grinding away on draft text until 6am, only for the Danish Prime Minister to take over chairing the meeting and announce that he would be producing a new text.

Delegates from China and the developing world objected strenuously. The chair reminded them that the world was expecting the conference to make real progress to slow climate change, while the objectors complained that there was an issue of principle...

Large screens relayed to those of us in the outside areas a series of set-piece speeches.

The EU called for ambitious targets and proposed reducing emissions 30% by 2020 as part of a global agreement, while also suggesting ways of funding the energy transition in poorer countries.

The EU also said deforestation rates should be halved by 2020 and net forest cover stabilized by 2030.

At the other end of the spectrum, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela blamed the capitalist economic system and said “If climate change was a bank, it would have already been saved!”

By the end of the day, I was impressed by the energy and commitment of NGO people and close to despair about the lack of urgency shown by politicians. We were all hoping for miracles to be achieved by leaders when they arrive for the last few days of the COP.

The optimists still believe that the conference will adopt on Friday a timetable for going forward. Australia has been playing a positive role at the conference, a great relief to me after the decade when we actively obstructed progress.

Our strong links with the USA, China and European nations have enabled us to propose creative solutions to the obstacles. But it is still not clear if there is enough political will to craft an effective global agreement. The most likely outcome is a statement of the principles for a treaty, with details to be hammered out over the next six months.

If there is an effective agreement, Kevin Rudd will be expected by the global community to produce a package of measures that will effect real change in Australia.

He will need to go well beyond the proposals in the watered down CPRS.

Given that was still too demanding for the Opposition and brought the denial faction to power in the Coalition, the government has a real political challenge. It will either have to negotiate seriously with the Greens or hold a double dissolution election to give a mandate for change.

Opinion polls suggest that the community understands the issue and wants to see concerted action.

Tens of thousands of Australians joined the Walk Against Warming last weekend. Huge numbers have insulated their houses, bought solar panels and shifted to public transport.

Now it is time for leaders to follow the lead of the people.

As the President of Grenada reminded the conference, millions of people in the world’s poorest countries are at risk from the consequences of climate change.

“History will not absolve us if we fail”, he said.

Thursday 17 December – Josh Meadows, Media Adviser

Protest born out of frustration

The protests that have been a feature of Copenhagen this past week have gone up a notch.

Police have fired tear gas at protesters on the streets of the Danish capital, more than 100 climate activists were arrested for trying to break into the talks and hundreds more were detained following clashes outside the conference centre.

ACF’s Climate Change Program Manager Tony Mohr and I were sitting at a counter in the front window of the Cabinn Metro hotel, 10 minutes walk from the conference centre, when suddenly we found ourselves with a front row seat of a melee between police and protesters.

It was pretty dramatic stuff.

Hooded protesters running down the street being chased police. Police alsatians snarling and straining at their leashes. Scuffles on the cold bitumen. Police cars, vans and buses screaming onto the scene. Police arresting dozens (hard to tell exact numbers) of protesters, bundling them into vans and buses and driving them away.

My heart is always with the protesters in these situations.

Protest is usually born out of frustration. And people all over the world are understandably very very frustrated with the UN process on climate change. Progress can’t even be described as glacial – not the way glaciers are melting these days.

The science on climate change is clear – and has been for many years. The impacts are already hurting people, animals and habitats across the world. The way forward (big, economy-wide cuts to our carbon emissions) is obvious. The lack of action is frightening.

Is it surprising that frustration occasionally turns into civil disobedience?

My hope is that the world leaders who are here in Copenhagen are not so insulated from what is happening on the streets that they can ignore the frustrated voices of people across the world, desperate for this gathering to deliver.

Wednesday 16 December – Don Henry, Executive Director

Cold, chaotic and crucial

Cold, chaotic and crucial. That’s how Tuesday, the fourth last day of the Copenhagen conference, feels to me as I write this note for you.

ACF’s President Professor Ian Lowe and Board and Council members Peter Christoff and Rob Fowler and I are staying in a little apartment in town (three on floor mattresses, one on a double bed – I won’t tell who!).


Today I left for the conference centre at 7.30am.

Outside the conference centre it is total chaos. Around 35,000 people trying to get into a centre that holds 15,000. Tony Mohr, ACF’s Climate Program Manager, helps plan and coordinate our day.

Negotiations are stuck.

Developing countries aren’t moving because developed countries haven’t committed to substantial enough targets to reduce greenhouse pollution nor to finance to help poor countries deal with climate change.

Developed countries aren’t moving because developing countries aren’t prepared to make binding commitments that can be verified independently.

We urgently need the leaders to arrive and break the log jam. Time is running out!

Overnight, the Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Change received a letter from the Southern Cross Climate Coalition, of which ACF is a member, putting forward our views on how Australia can play a crucial role at these talks.

We believe Australia can help bring countries together by supporting an extension to the Kyoto Protocol alongside a new global treaty that brings in commitments from the USA and developing countries.

The Prime Minister can help lift the ambition of the negotiations by clearly committing Australia to reduce emissions by at least 25 per cent by 2020. And strong support is needed for funding to help poor countries deal with climate change.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow and I ensured that senior advisers to the Prime Minister and Minister Wong understood our views.

We then briefed journalists on what Australia can do to help get the negotiations back on track. Working together we’re trying to make sure more people understand that strong action on climate change is good for jobs growth in a low carbon economy.

After lunch Sharan and I are fortunate to be asked to join Al Gore to brief him on the climate debates in Australia and to discuss the negotiations. Mr Gore is preparing to give a major speech to the conference.

I’m about to go to an evening meeting with Minister Penny Wong. I’ll present to her the proxy forms that so many ACF members and supporters, including Cate Blanchett, have given to me, urging Australian leadership at these negotiations.

That will be a real pleasure for me because it is only through the strong will and determination of millions of Australians who care deeply about climate change that we will achieve lasting action.

A late dinner with Ian Lowe, Sharan Burrow and John Connor, head of the Climate Institute, will be a chance to relax and reflect as we do our very best in these crucial final days.

Thanks so much for all the efforts back home. The emails and support really make a difference and are needed more than ever. Our leaders now have a crucial opportunity to move the negotiations forward.

Tuesday 15 December – Josh Meadows, Media Adviser

Cooking or chilling?

My first task on arriving here in Copenhagen was to line up someone from the ACF team to comment on the latest story sweeping the UN climate talks: that Australia’s emissions from land use blew out by a staggering 657 per cent between 1990 and 2007.

The massive increase, which is being attributed mostly to emissions from bushfires and drought, is just one part of the story.

Accusations are flying that the Australian delegation is trying to make sure any new agreement counts the carbon that can be stored by better managing agricultural and grazing lands, but ignores the emissions that are created by events like bushfires.

I was still dragging my suitcase on wheels around the cobblestoned streets of this beautiful city when the phone started ringing. What did ACF make of this development?

I met up with our Climate Change Program Manager Tony Mohr at Copenhagen’s central railway station and the two of us hotfooted it, suitcase bumping along behind, to the hotel where ABC correspondent Sarah Clarke is based.

Sarah and ABC cameraman Sam filmed an interview with Tony in the chilly air outside the hotel. Is this a case of Australia trying to ‘cook the books’? How will other countries view this?

Unfortunately, Tony said, our country has ‘form’ on this issue.

Back in 1997 Australia negotiated an eleventh hour addition to the Kyoto Protocol that allowed an increase in Australia’s industrial emissions to be ‘offset’ by a decrease in land-based emissions, achieved by restricting landclearing.

Tony said the issue was still in play here at Copenhagen. Other countries will be watching Australia like a hawk, he said, to make sure there is no repeat of 1997’s accounting tricks. He said it was vitally important Australia be prepared to count the emissions that come from the land and also to make real cuts to our industrial emissions.

Grabs from Tony’s interview ran on ABC TV’s Midday Report, evening news and Lateline.

My second task here in Copenhagen wasn’t nearly so satisfying.

With thousands of others who have arrived for the second week of the UN talks I queued outside the conference centre, while the temperature hovered around 0°C and occasional flurries of snow blew in, waiting to get accreditation (ie the badge needed to pass security).

I stood out there for six hours.

And it was all for nothing! The UN has seriously oversubscribed this conference. The Bella Centre can hold 15,000 people, but the UN has accepted registrations for 34,000. It looks like many of us who have turned up for the second week won’t even get in through the front door.

(ACF’s president Professor Ian Lowe was also among the thousands who queued for hours outside the centre, only to be turned away at the end of a bitterly cold day, as were TV crews from Australian networks Ten and SBS.)

On a personal level it’s disappointing. But I can still do my job. It will just be more on the phone and on the fringes than I thought it would be.

Monday 14 December - Tony Mohr, Climate Change Program Manager

My inspirations at the Cop

I usually write and talk about policy and politics that make me think, but today is about people and places that make me laugh and cry.

The policy and politics at home and in Copenhagen are difficult and distressing, but it’s the people I’ve met who keep me believing we’ll find a way through it.

One of those people is Maria, from Kiribati in the Pacific.

She’s over here with a small group of people who live in the Pacific, here to share the stories about how climate change is already affecting their communities and culture.

Their ‘side event’ was unlike any other. Mostly ‘side events’ consist of white guys in suits talking to power point slides as they speak from the head. Maria and her friends sing, dance, tell stories and speak from the heart. They made me laugh, moved me to tears and moved me to act.

Negotiators from Pacific countries are understaffed and overworked, but have shown more mettle, more leadership than any other. Despite coming under enormous pressure from big countries, they are forcing the world to face up to the question:

"Are we going to get a treaty that ensures survival for the Pacific?"

The other group of people who are keeping me inspired over here in Copenhagen are not here at all! They are the tens of thousands of Australians who walked against warming all across Australia.

Photo’s and video footage from Australia hit the world news here in Copenhagen as thousands of negotiators read or watched the news before their global day of action even started.

It made me feel proud to be an Australian, and positive about getting the change we so badly need.

Friday 11 December - Owen Pascoe, Climate Change Campaigner

Penny Wong has Landed – followed by the dinosaurs

As we got into the Bella Centre this morning we heard that Penny Wong had set up a meeting with ACF and a number of other NGOs.

We had about an hour to press the Minister to take stronger action towards a strong, binding outcome here in Copenhagen and made a good start.

After the NGO meeting though, we were quickly followed by the business groups – including some of the dinosaurs that have been holding back action in Australia.

Unfortunately the dinosaurs that have been arguing all year to weaken the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme have now travelled to Copenhagen to try and replicate their success in Canberra.

They are already arguing for Australia not to lift its target beyond completely inadequate 5% reductions by 2020. This is quite serious.

Australia is not the only country that has to deal with dinosaurs. Together the big polluters could actually contribute to derailing the entire United Nations process or push us into a weak outcome. The planet could face catastrophic climate change if we let them succeed.

It’s time the dinosaurs evolved so we can get on with creating millions of clean energy jobs across the globe and protecting the future for all of us. This is another reason its great to see such a strong NGO community hear in Copenhagen – making sure governments hear all those millions of people who want real action on climate change – not just the dinosaurs.

While running between conference rooms today I managed to catch part of the presentation from the World Wide Views on Climate Change project.

The research team used well-established principles for citizen participation and presented unbiased information about climate change to 4,000 people in 38 countries. They found 91% of people thought a global climate deal was urgent and should be made at Copenhagen and 89% of people thought developed countries should take a greenhouse pollution reduction target of 25% to 40% by 2020 or higher.

The citizens of the world are leaving the dinosaurs behind. Let’s make sure our politicians will too.

Thursday 10 December - Owen Pascoe, Climate Change Campaigner

"3-5-0" "Tuvalu!"

With just nine days left for the world to get its act together on climate change tensions have been running high.

Day three saw protests inside and outside the Bella conference centre.

It was great to see some Australian protesters braving the near freezing temperatures to send their message to delegates this morning. It shows how much Australians care about the outcome of this conference that so many people have been willing to cough up their own money and rearrange their lives to get here.

Inside the building protesters called loudly for nations to stand with Tuvalu – one of the Pacific Island countries on the front line of climate change.

The sound of hundreds of protesters inside the conference entrance chanting "3-5-0" and "stand with Tuvalu" echoed throughout the centre, as text messages and twitter feeds spread news of the protest.

Inside the main hall, Tuvalu was bravely arguing for a process to move towards a legally binding outcome from Copenhagen. But the move was blocked by some countries, including Saudi Arabia. This ended in the main part of the conference being suspended for most of the day.

The politics are still playing out, but it is becoming clearer who is here in Copenhagen to try and push for a good deal and who is here to block progress.

It’s certain the protests outside the doors are not going to stop until there is a lot more action inside.

Wednesday 9 December - Tony Mohr, Climate Change Program Manager

Not one agreement, but two!

Wow. 24 hours ago I was wondering if we’d actually have an agreement at the end of these negotiations. Now I have two copies to choose from! One of them was leaked to the English newspaper The Guardian as I was talking to an Australian journalist about what agreement we might get! The other hasn’t been leaked yet... but more about that in a minute.

As soon as The Guardian story was published the conference erupted in a sea of activity with press conferences being called in every available corner and African nations storming out of a meeting.

The document that has caused all this fuss is an unofficial paper drafted by Denmark, Mexico, Australia and a few other countries. It’s a bit of a mixed bag. There is progress on some big stuff like keeping warming below two degrees. But there’s also quite a bit of important stuff missing, like national targets, money and timelines – basically most of the important things! If the world leaders sit down with a pen and fill in the blanks with some strong numbers this could be a useful agreement, or it could be a shoddy one... depending on what those numbers are.

Understandably, developing countries are asking questions like “but what will happen to the Kyoto Protocol?” Yes, that Protocol. The one our Prime Minister ratified two years ago having just won a climate change election. The Danes’ draft “Copenhagen Agreement” basically assumes Kyoto is superseded by a new treaty. That’s good if it’s an upgrade – bigger, faster, bolder and with the US on board. But it also makes a lot of people and countries worried we’ll trade in Kyoto for something weaker. Again, it all depends on those troublesome blanks in the draft.

About an hour after having drawn breath over the Danes’ leaked “Copenhagen Agreement”, I was able to view another draft Copenhagen agreement by a different group of countries. Before you ask, no I can’t publish it or disclose what’s in it. Those countries that penned it will do that some time in the next two weeks, probably sooner rather than later. Watch this [blank] space...

Tuesday 8 December - Tony Mohr, Climate Change Program Manager

Copehagen more unpredictable than Australian climate politics?

After the first day here in Copenhagen, there’s been more speculation about the outcome of the conference than there was about the weird direction of Australian climate politics over the last month.

On one end of the spectrum, there are rumours that China and major developing countries are drafting a treaty that they want agreed as the outcome of Copenhagen. This morning the Alliance of Small Island States whose survival depends on a safe climate threw down the gauntlet and threatened to walk out of the talks if there was anything less than a treaty.

On the other end of the spectrum, the ‘commitment circle’ of the Danes, Australia, Mexico have been aiming for ‘politically binding decisions’ which is jargon for decisions of the UN at this meeting, rather than an actual treaty. This is certainly not ideal, but it might not be all bad. It all comes down to what actually gets decided. If the decisions cover all the big hard bits, they could finish off a treaty in another six months.

But if the ‘politically binding decisions’ amount to a decision by world leaders to put green paint on a straw house, it will blow over in the first puff of political wind in 2010.

For all the speculation about the outcome of Copenhagen, for the people I’ve met from places like the Solomons, Kirribati and Tuvalu, there’s nothing to speculate about. Their survival hangs on the outcome, and that trumps the electoral success of world leaders hands down.

Monday 7 December - Owen Pascoe, Climate Change Campaigner

Where am I? What is happening in your country?

The two most frequently asked questions Tony and I have been asked since landing in Copenhagen early on Saturday morning are “Where am I?” and “What is happening in your country?”

Copenhagen is alive with people from all corners of the world who keep nervously approaching us with maps pointing to unpronounceable Danish train stations. Needless to say we haven’t been much help.

The Australians and others from countries currently in summer have been easy to spot in their winter camping gear. Once we’ve been indentified as Australians the questions start coming: What happened to your climate change legislation? You’re going to have a climate change election? Has your Parliament been taken over by climate skeptics?

From The Economist and the Wall Street Journal, Australia’s climate change debate has been big news.

Here are our answers:

Yes, it is hugely disappointing that we haven’t been able to pass a strong emissions trading scheme in Australia, but it is not over yet. The weak legislation will be back in February. If it doesn’t pass Australia is heading for another climate change election sometime in 2010 and Australians are likely to strongly support action on climate change.

No, were not a country of climate deniers – we just have a handful of climate deniers in Parliament. In fact the overwhelming majority of Australians understand human activities are leading to climate change and we think it is one of the most important issues for Australia and the globe.

We’ve seen visible signs of relief on people’s faces at this. Fortunately there is bipartisan support for a 25 per cent reduction target by 2020 in the context of a strong agreement in Copenhagen. The Australian Conservation Foundation and many others will be pushing for our representatives to lock this in at Copenhagen and move to a 40 per cent target with a strong global agreement.

The concern about Australia’s climate laws (or lack of them) shows we can have a positive impact here in Copenhagen. We’ll be expecting Penny Wong and Kevin Rudd to do so when they arrive.

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