COP-15, Final Posting

I wanted to let a few weeks pass before writing my final COP-15 blog post.  In reading through my past postings, each day at COP-15 was an intense blur of networking, information and process.   Media reports, talking heads, and other blogs about COP-15 continue to offer a very broad range of opinions about what actually happened in Copenhagen.  This blog is my attempt to summarize the outcome.

We do know that the main outcome of COP-15 is the draft Copenhagen Accord, a political agreement struck between the U.S., China, India and South Africa, with some involvement from Brazil, Ethiopia and G20 nations.  This was not the “usual” political agreement process where presidents and prime ministers arrive in the final days of the COP to place their stamp of approval on a previously agreed outcome.  Instead, over the course of some 13 hours, U.S. President Obama personally shepherded an agreement that was initially endorsed by 4 developing country leaders, then by the leaders of 28 developed and developing countries, and then–after an intense all-night debate, by nearly every nation on Earth.  Only 5 countries, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Sudan refused to do so. Because the rules of the COP require consensus, the continued objection of these 5 countries made the formal adoption of the Copenhagen Accord by decision impossible.  As a result, COP-15 negotiators found way to persuade these countries to allow a vote for a decision “taking note” of the Copenhagen Accord–a pragmatic action with the same practical effect as a consensus decision.

So what happened?  While pundits from every extreme angle have been quick to point out that the Copenhagen Accord falls short of their COP-15 “expectations”, they also generally fail to recognize the pragmatic achievement of getting the U.S., China and other fast-growing developing countries to agree to the level of commitment that actually did occur.  In this context, it is important to understand that no one directly involved in the drafting of the Copenhagen Accord has been hyping it as a one stop, final solution to address climate change.  Even President Obama has been candid and has called it only “a first step”.  That said, the Copenhagen Accord represents a “mutual action pact” taking a bold “first step” made with a global consensus of focused intention.  It delivers the two principal things that the U.S. Senate has demanded from the international process: meaningful commitments to reducing the emissions of key developing countries, and a transparent framework for evaluating their performance against those commitments.  You can read the three-page document yourself at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/l07.pdf

A Summary of the Copenhagen Accord Main Points

A. Emissions Targets:

• “reduce global emissions so as to hold the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, and take action to meet this objective consistent with science and on the basis of equity”.
• “cooperate in achieving the peaking of global and national emissions as soon as possible, recognizing that the time frame for peaking will be longer in developing countries and bearing in mind that social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries and that a low-emission development strategy is indispensable to sustainable development”.
• developing nations are to publish their emissions reduction commitments by January 31, 2010. Paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Accord create an “open enrollment” period for countries to record their emission reduction commitments and actions in 2 tables. It is important to recognize that many of the principal countries have already announced their commitments over the course of 2009, including China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, South Korea and others.

B. Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV)

• Developing nation’s action under emissions includes only domestic MRV, but will be subject to guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties and reported through their national communications every two years.

C. Deforestation (REDD)

• “immediate establishment of a mechanism including REDD-plus” to invest capital from developed countries for “reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation” and enhancing “removals of greenhouse gas emission by forests”.

D. Financing

• Developed countries are to “support a goal of mobilizing jointly 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.”  Funding for this effort will come from a very wide variety of public, private, alternative, bilateral and multilateral sources.
• A 30 billion dollar fund available between 2010 to 2012 inclusive, balanced between adaptation and mitigation.
• The Copenhagen Green Climate Fund, a new UNFCC mechanism, to support funded “projects, programs, policies” on mitigation, REDD-plus, adaptation, capacity building, technology development and transfer.

E. Technology Transfer

• A new “Technology Mechanism” to further accelerate technology development and transfer under a country by country approach. (in contrast to the project based approach in the existing CDM).

F. 2015 Review

• A review of the Copenhagen Accord’s progress must be completed by 2015, and would consider “strengthening the long-term goal limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 degrees.”

COP-15, Day 11

Today was another day spent at the Crowne Plaza attending Side Events.  This is a picture of the Crowne Plaza Hotel after having crossed the street from the nearest metro stop.  Yes–it is a picture of the building in Copenhagen in daylight!  One benefit of participating in Side Events at the Crowne Plaza is that I don’t have to arrive quite as early as the Bella Center.

Getting around Copenhagen is becoming more and more difficult as Copenhagen tightens down for 119 Heads of State to arrive.  Given all the changes in bus routes and security, it is now a prudent strategy to estimate travel by multiplying “normal” by five.

Today was particularly special because I was invited to speak at my second Side Event of COP-15.  The title of this Side Event was “Maximizing the Value of GHG Data: Interoperability is Key”, moderated by Jill Gravender of The Climate Registry.  Other speakers included Rachael Jonassen of LMI; Jochen Harnisch of ICAP and Nigel Topping of the Carbon Disclosure Project.  I enjoyed participating in this Side Event very much.   The panel focused on how greenhouse gas data has been shared in the past and how companies and governments might think about new approaches to data transfer and system interoperability in the future.  Both panel and audience were interested and motivated as most had gone through significant travel adventures to get there.

While at the Crowne Plaza, I also attended “Ties between Financial & GHG Accounting” which focused on the current ties between greenhouse gas accounting (voluntary or mandatory) and financial accounting, how the two accounting systems interact, and how confidence can be assured that both meet their respective requirements.

It is time to say goodbye to Copenhagen.  Today is my last full day here as I start back for Minneapolis, Minnesota tomorrow.

I will write a concluding blog entry on COP-15 soon after I get back.

COP-15, Day 10

Wednesday was a transportation challenge as I am now working out of the Crowne Plaza instead of the Bella Center.  The Crowne Plaza is one metro stop past the Bella Center so I had to navigate most of the ever-changing security issues as if I were–plus go one metro stop farther.  Patience is a necessary commodity here.  IETA Side Events went until 9 last night with another adventure to get back to my hotel–complete with very snowy conditions.  As a result, I am a bit behind in my postings.

IETA Side Events at the Crowne Plaza

The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) has held side events at the Crowne Plaza during most of COP-15–with a particular emphasis on Wednesday through Friday.  While inside the Bella Center, I passed up going to several interesting Side Events at the Crowne Plaza because of concern I would not be able to get back in again.  Now that I am outside the Bell Center (there are still a very small number of BCSE members inside still providing those of us outside with updates) I can now take part in the Side Events at the Crowne Plaza.

Wednesday was a particularly full agenda of IETA Side Events–there were many very interesting and useful presentations by various industry and governmental leaders in their fields of professional expertise.  You can view the schedule for all IETA COP-15 Side Events at  http://www.ieta.org/ieta/www/pages/download.php?docID=3359.  I expect the slides from the Side Events eventually be on the IETA website as well.

Those of you who following innovations in the auto industry will appreciate the Lotus Eco Elise that was parked in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza.  http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Green-Cars/Search-Results/Green-First-Pictures/Lotus-Eco-Elise-first-pictures/

COP-15, Day 9

Today was the first day of the secondary badge system.  The NGO Observer community has been cut to about 20% of its total size.  To get into the Bella Center, it is now necessary to have 2 badges–the normal one and a second one that can be exchanged within a particular accredited group but not outside of it. (This is because each group is allocated a specific number of observers and once that number is reached that group can have no more people even though the person trying to enter might have both badges)  The UN keeps track of the individual group numbers because it scans each Observer’s badge when he or she enters and leaves the Bella Center.

On the morning of Day 9 I was through the gate a bit later than usual as I had to get my secondary badge from my focal point at BSCE before going in.  As a result, it was the first time I had experienced the kind of lines I had been hearing about.  For about 20 minutes, I was in the equivalent of a mosh pit until I got far enough to get separated from the main line into NGO’s, Parties Press, etc. After that point, everything became routine again and I passed quickly through into the Bella Center.  However, I can hardly complain about a 20 minute wait.  Over the course of the day and evening I spoke to several people that had spent hours in the cold waiting in mosh pit lines without toilets, food or water.  Many of these I spoke to were senior executives in their respective companies.  Many had arrived to observe the final week of the COP and found themselves spending the day (or days) in registration lines instead.  Somehow, everyone remained safe and anyone who actually made it inside the Bella Center was grateful for one more day of access.

As usual, my day started with the BCSE and BINGO morning briefings.  Highlights of the day included attending a roundtable meeting in the EU Pavilion on “Product Carbon Footprinting–Enabling climate-conscious consumption: International approaches towards a common standard”; a Sustainability Communities event at the U.S. Center; an IEP (a coalition of the world’s major electric utility trade organizations) Side Event presenting a “A Roadmap for a Carbon-Neutral Roadmap by 2050″; and the U.S. Governors and Canadian Premiers Side Event, “Beyond Cap & Trade: Sub-National Leadership–Sooner, Stronger”.  I also attended two evening receptions.  The first one was hosted by CDP and Accenture.  The second was hosted by the Governors and Premiers in collaboration with NGO groups such as The Climate Group and The Climate Registry.

Because I was attending the Product Carbon Footprinting roundtable, I missed Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s presentation at the U.S. Center.  Secretary Vilsack’s presentation was titled “Clean Energy Investments: creating opportunities for rural economies.”  You can read the text at the U.S. Center website at http://cop15.state.gov/pressroom/133586.htm

EPA also held a Side Event presentation in the U.S. Center on Sustainable Communities to describe how a new Partnership for Sustainable Communities between the U.S. EPA, the U.S. DOT and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help coordinate funding in support of sustainable communities.  I couldn’t find a link to the presentation materials, but I suspect they will be made available on the U.S. Center website eventually.

The International Electricity Partnership (iEP) Side Event was interesting in that all of the world’s major utility trade organizations (EEI, ESAA, Eurelectric, the Canadian Electricity Association, and FEPC) each presented their roadmaps for a low-carbon electricity sector by 2050.  While some organizations used “carbon-neutral” and others used “low-carbon”, the fact that all 5 organizations were sharing a Side Event presenting very similar visions was interesting.  IEP has produced a joint report to document their activities.  You can read more about the project in EEI’s press release http://www.eei.org/newsroom/pressreleases/Releases/Pages/091215.aspx and access the IEP report itself at www.eurelectric.org.

U.S. Governors and Canadian Premiers Side Event, “Beyond Cap & Trade: Sub-National Leadership–Sooner, Stronger” featured a panel discussion with several U.S. Governors and Canadian Premiers.  It was Sub-National day at the Bella Center and so the Governors and Premiers were there to educate participants about the role of sub-national leadership–what states and provinces can accomplish for themselves.  Special tickets were required and I was fortunate to have obtained one.

Since I am sharing a secondary badge with another BCSE member, I will not have access to the Bella Center for Day 10.  There are a number of Side Events scheduled for the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen next door over the next 3 days–including the one I will be speaking at on Thursday.  After seeing 10 days of Copenhagen in the dark, it will be nice to actually see out of the windows of the bus when I go to the Crowne Plaza.  There are several Side Events at the Crown Plaza and most large public sessions from the Bella Center are also simulcast there–so observers without access to the Bella Center can still watch the proceedings as if they were there.

COP-15, Day 8

Today was a day of “hurry up and wait”.  Many Observers hurried to ensure their early entry into the Bella Center as it was the last day to do so without a secondary badge.  Tomorrow, COP-15 is moving to a secondary badge system in order  to dramatically reduce the number of NGO Observers.  The Bella Center must stay under its 15,000 person building capacity and the number of NGO Observer delegations must be reduced to about 20% of their original size in order to make room for the additional staff requirements associated with government Ministers and Heads of State.

Starting tomorrow, all NGO Observers will have to have their original badges plus an additional secondary badge to get access to the Bella Center.  On top of the issues presented by distribution of secondary badges, there was a mass of new people who were trying to get credentialed for the final week.  By all accounts, it was a good idea to get to the Bella Center early today.

While those of us actually inside the Bella Center had hurried to be there, there wasn’t much to watch in terms of proceedings.  Many negotiating meetings were cancelled as several developing countries effectively suspended progress for several hours.  The press has been reporting extensively on these events.  That said, things appear to be going forward again and it is likely that many delegations will be making up for lost time tonight.

While the actual negotiations were moving slowly, there was still a plethora of information to absorb as many Side Events were presented.  It was also DOE Day” at the U.S. Center, highlighted by an address from DOE Secretary Chu. In his presentation, Secretary Chu announced an initiative called “Climate REDI,” which stands for Climate Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative.  The purpose of Climate REDI is to help speed up the deployment of renewables and other clean energy technologies in developing countries.  You can read more about it yourself at http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8394.htm.

COP-15, Day 6

Saturday, COP-15 Day 6, was a very busy day as BCSE participated in a BINGO meeting with the IPCC co-chairs, sponsored two very successful side events, and a submitted a formal intervention.  I had the honor of participating in the second BCSE Side Event as a panelist.  I don’t have pictures of the event yet–but I will post them as they become available.

BINGO IPCC Briefing

Chairman Rajendra Pachauri and the IPCC Working Group Co-Chairs of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) briefed the BINGO on its Fifth Assessment Report activities.  IPCC Assessment Reports are comprehensive assessments about climate change that are prepared every 5 to 7 years.  Governments and organizations are now being asked nominate experts and reviewers for the three Working Group’s contributions to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) and Chairman Pachauri extended an invitation to the BINGO for its members to participate in this process.

What is a Side Event?

Side events were originally established by the UN Secretariat as a forum for observer organizations to highlight diverse climate change issues in a different environment than the negotiation process itself–usually in the form of presentations and panels.  The successful development of COP side events over the years cumulated in a record number of applications for COP-15–more than 560 side event applications were made for the initial 135 slots. I have the honor of speaking at two Side Events at COP-15.  The first one was December 12, the second one will be on December 17.

The first BCSE side event “Leading U.S.  Businesses: Innovating the Path for U.S. and Global Climate Action“ was co-hosted with BiCEP Coalition of CERES, and attended by approximately 60 people. Panelists included Sempra Energy, Johnson Controls, Nike and the North Face. The panel discussion was facilitated by Beth Daley of the Boston Globe. Panelists focused on the need for certainty for investment that would be provided through a strong international agreement with clear targets, while also sharing ongoing efforts at home to improve corporate efficiency, adapt to climate change and its impact on supply chains (ex. water), and provide energy and downstream products that help the transition to a low-carbon society.

The second BCSE event, “Driving Low-Carbon Investment” was co-hosted with the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute.  I participated in this Side Event as a panelist on behalf of BCSE.  The event received great interest, with standing-room only. The panel discussion examined the role of monitoring, reporting and verification  (MRV) not only in mitigation commitments by countries and project development under existing market mechanisms – but also how MRV impacts the decision making and actions taken by private sector corporations.  MRV is also key to building market certainty and an enabling infrastructure that will support a transformational level of low-carbon private sector investment.

ICSE SBSTA Intervention

Interventions are basically formal statements from a NGO to a formal negotiating body.  BCSE is a member of the International Council for Sustainable Energy (ICSE).  The ICSE intervention was delivered to the Subsidiary Bodies for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) delegates on Saturday afternoon which focused on support for clear mid-term targets by developed countries and national actions by major emitting developing countries as a sign of success in Copenhagen. Clay Nesler of Johnson Controls (a fellow BCSE member) delivered the statement and specifically spoke to SBSTA about the need for technology transfer and financing outcomes in Copenhagen to:

• Involve the private sector in the design, governance and implementation of new initiatives
• Support intellectual propert rights
• Focus on leveraging private capital; and
• Emphasize capacity building and creating enabling environments to support sustainable markets for clean energy products and services

The day concluded with the annual BCSE delegate dinner.  The dinner was fun and interesting as it was a traditional Danish Christmas dinner at a sustainable restaurant–my first opportunity to eat “off site” all week.

It has been a long and busy week–concluding in a 17 hour day yesterday.  Fortunately, Sunday is a day off from the process, with everything going back into full swing Monday.  That said, I have no doubt that many delegates were working hard today anyway as there is much to be done before the Ministers and Heads of State arrive.

In conclusion, it is interesting to see how much of this process can be followed via the web.  Visit http://unccc.int/2860.php or the official COP-15 U.S. website at http://cop15.state.gov/ to see how.  You can watch proceedings live, read the actual documents, view pictures and watch video.

If you have any questions, please send me an e-mail at kutt@conserviscorp.com.

COP-15 Day 5

Today started with the usual BCSE morning briefing followed by the BINGO morning briefing.  I’ve been asked why I don’t write more specifically about what happens in these morning briefings.  The short answer is that I can’t. It is common practice to consider NGO specific meetings to be confidential so that the NGO participants will speak with each other more freely.  These morning briefings are an extremely valuable opportunity for various NGO groups from around the world to actually have an opportunity to talk to each other about what is happening within the same NGO community first.  Without the confidentiality of these meetings, the NGO participants would be less likely to speak, which wouldn’t be helpful to anyone.  Every NGO deserves this same opportunity and respect.  For the most part, everyone complies and the whole process works.

Today much work was getting done, so many of the official delegate meetings were closed to NGO participants. Progress was made and 2 draft negotiating texts were released in the afternoon.   The closed meetings gave me the opportunity to listen to scientists and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke at the U.S. Center.

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke @ U.S. Center

I watched Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke speak at the U.S. Center today and I highly recommend people watch it for themselves.  Secretary Locke’s speech and other events at U.S. Center are being webcast live and are also available in a library at www.cop15.state.gov.

NASA/JAXA Presentation about Scientific Global Observations from Space at U.S. Center

The U.S. Center is filled with events where U.S. and other scientists are made available to discuss their findings with COP-15 participants.  This afternoon I watched a U.S. scientist and a Japanese scientist as they explained how scientific global observations are made from space.

I also spent some time watching “Science on a Sphere”, the projection ball in the reception area of the U.S. Center.

Will Steger Foundation: Views from the American Heartland: Diverse Midwestern Views in Copenhagen

My day concluded by attending a press event hosted by the Will Steger Foundation that presented a panel of various midwestern views about how the region was dealing with climate change.

Tomorrow I am taking part in a UNFCCC Side Event panel.  You can read more about it in the related Press Release on the Conservis website.  Goodnight from Copenhagen.

COP-15, Day 4

Mornings always start with a review of the Daily Program, the BCSE morning briefing (the NGO I am accredited with), followed by the BINGO morning briefing (basically, all business NGO’s from everywhere imaginable).  Both morning briefings summarize the previous day’s events and point out the current day’s key meetings and side events for those who attend.  BCSE does so from the perspective of its membership, while the BINGO’s focus is much broader–basically it is a briefing for all of the global business community.  Meeting schedules can and do change–even with the best of scheduling it is important for participants to keep an eye on one’s e-mail and the TV screens.

Today I attended the media briefing “Copenhagen Risks Backtrack on Private Investment”.   A group of business NGO’s (including BCSE) held a briefing to educate the media about the need for commitments and market mechanisms to Fast-Track Private Investment.  According to the United Nations, over 85% of the financing required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to address the climate challenge must come from the private sector.

I also attended a side event at the U.S. Center concerning “The Development Agenda for Clean Energy and Transfer of Technologies”.  This side event consisted of a panel of NGO’s and Government representatives with experience deploying technology in developing countries.  This side event was webcast live and questions the audience and from the web were addressed.   You can see webcasts and other information from the U.S. Center at www.cop15.state.gov.

The U.S. Center is a place where special side events are held as well as an informal meeting place for participants.  The meeting area also is used as a reception area and as a science exhibit as there is a projection ball that NOAA uses to describe climate science.  For those of you who have been to the Science Museum of Minnesota–its basically the same ball and concept.

Here some pictures of what the U.S. Center looks like.

The day ended with the Clean Energy Industry Reception at the U.S. Center.

COP 15-Day 3

Part of my purpose in writing this blog is to provide some insight into what it is like to attend a COP as an NGO Observer and take some time each day to explain some of the basics to a more general audience.  I intend to write a summary of each day’s events.  Please feel free to send questions.

Yesterday’s post was delayed because of problems with a power adapter.  Now I am fully charged and back on track!

A Summary of My First Day at COP-15:

First things first:  Get the badge!

I arrived in Copenhagen 12/8 and I was #2 in line early on 12/9 to pick up my NGO observer badge as I had been warned by others that the registration lines were long.  Getting up early proved worth it as I passed through security and registration quickly after presenting my BCSE accreditation letter and my passport.

Why did I need an accreditation letter to get my badge?  First of all, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) observers must be a part of an accredited UN NGO in order to participate.  The NGO I am accredited with is the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE).  You can learn all about BCSE at http://www.bcse.org.

Second: Where do 15,000 people put their coat? (and yes, I actually got it back at the end of the day!)

Third: Figure Out Where To Go

Once I had my badge and was able to enter the Bella Center, I quickly gained an appreciation for how large it is.  After spending the entire day in the building, I have to admit that I am still figuring out where everything is.  It used to be that the very first thing any COP participant had to do was to find a hard copy of the Daily Programme.  Now, there is an iPhone app for COP-15 that provides the Daily Programme for me.  For those of you following at home, Daily Programme is available online and the Plenary Sessions and many of the Side Events are being webcast on the UN COP-15 website.

A Daily Programme is printed each morning.  Part One generally describes delegate activity such as when the Plenary Sessions are, etc.  Part Two describes other activities, such as Side Events.  The hard part is choosing where to go–there are so many interesting choices!

On my first day, I attended the BCSE morning briefing, the International BINGO Daily Briefing, heard EPA Administrator Jackson speak and attended the U.S. Business and Industry briefing.

What Do Observers Do?

Observers are generally are here to observe the COP-15 negotiation process. We learn about the concerns and interests of others around the world, we network with other accredited observers from industry, environmental and other groups.  We also meet informally and in Side Events to answer questions from each other and sometimes even from the negotiating delegates themselves.

Generally, this COP is well-organized and secure.  However, there is a small problem–there are over 32,000 potential badges with space for only 15,000.  I am told the number of delegates + press is around 14,000.  All badges are scanned going in and out of the Bella Center to maintain an accurate headcount. For now–its incentive to arrive early and to not leave the building during the day. NGO’s have been told that “special” badges might have to be issued, essentially rationing the number down to a manageable amount should it become necessary.

On to Day 4!

Karen Utt to Observe at COP 15 in Copenhagen

Hello.  I am Karen Utt, VP of Advisory Services at Conservis Corporation, a leading provider of sustainability and greenhouse gas solutions.  I will be participating with the Business Council for Sustainable Energy as an Observer the for the COP 15 meetings being held in Copenhagen, Denmark December 7-18, 2009.  During this time, I will be blogging at this site in order to share my daily observations about what it is like to be there.  You can also find a link to this site at http://www.conserviscorp.com.