Daily blog from COP15 in Copenhagen in December 2009

On 5 December, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General of the International Union of Railways (UIC), the initiator of this special train, together with Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and James P. Leape, Director General of WWF hosted more than 400 high level EcoPassengers: climate change negotiators, rail business leaders, environmental activists, journalists and a group of Young Climate Champions on board of the Climate Express taking them to COP 15 in Copenhagen. 

The CO2-neutral train started in the early morning from Brussels via Cologne and Hamburg to arrive late in the evening in Copenhagen. On the train several events took place. The session "Including transport in the post 2012 process" was hosted by the Bridging the Gap-initiative. About 40 people attended the discussion that was moderated by Ramon Cruz from ITDP. Hans Rat from UITP, Daniel Bongardt from GTZ, Ko Sakamoto from TRL and Dr. Harald Diaz-Bone from UNFCCC Secretary were presenting and discussing concrete suggestions for including transport in the negotiating text.

Check for pictures and more detailed information:

http://www.traintocopenhagen.org/

At 10:30 this morning in the EU pavilion the initiative hosted its first event in COP15. We were very pleased to see 50 people chose to attend our event over the opening ceremony reflecting the importance of transport in the climate change talks.

We took the opportunity to present a background of urban transport in the EU and developing countries. Key messages included the overlapping issue of implementing avoid-, shift- and improve-strategies and that communication is required to engage action in transport development.

See all presentation from the event here:

• Welcome and introduction to the "Bridging the gap" initiative (Daniel Bongardt, GTZ and Caroline Edant, Veolia Transport)
• The transport challenges in the European Union: scenarios for meeting the European climate targets (Ko Sakamoto, TRL)
• Roadmaps towards low carbon transport in the developing world (Felix Creutzig, Berlin University)
• Practical solutions towards sustainable land transport in a globalised world (Heather Allen, UITP)
• Operator solutions for the challenge of urban sustainable mobility (Caroline Edant, Veolia Transport)
• The need for linking the current land transport challenge to the Copenhagen process: suggestions developed by "Bridging the gap" (Holger Dalkmann, TRL)

Getting to the conference venue is convenient. Public Transport is rather well developed and Copenhagen is a world leading city of cyclists. For all conference participants public transport is free, bikes are offered for free rental and the metro- and bus-systems performs really well. For this reason the United States Federal Transit Administration (FTA) offers a bus city tour on Thursday 10am. You'll find more information at the US Pavilion.

In an event at the US Pavilion which was called "Buses, Trains, and Commuter Vans: Reducing Carbon through U.S. Public Transit", a panel of experts presented the role of public transportation in reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).It is an important sector as 29% of energy related CO2 emissions in the USA. <Read more>

In the evening at 8pm the German Environmental Ministry and CCAP hold a side event on national appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs). More in depth information on how such a system of NAMAs could look like was explained along transport sector by Mark Houdashelt. The Bridging the Gap initiative was pleased to see that CCAP proposed a transportation window in order to finance certain types of NAMAs in developing countries.

• Presentation of Ned Helme, President Center for Clean Air Policy
• Presentation of Ellina Levina, Center for Clean Air Policy
• Presentation of Mark Houdashelt, Senior Policy Analyst Center for Clean Air Policy

Having a stand in COP15 is a great opportunity and many people have already stopped to discuss Transport and Climate Change. Bridging the Gap initiative is located in Hall H-014C and provides information, so please come and see us and take a look at our latest publications.

This morning at 8:45am an event by the European Commission on "International aviation and Maritime Emissions post-2012" was held in the EU pavilion. After presenting trends in aviation and maritime, the European Commission highlighted the actions that have to be taken on the international level and the EU's position on what needs to be done. It seemed to be a number of conflicting positions between the airline industry and the European Commission's proposal.

• Presentation of Mark Major and Philip Good 

Later in the day, at 3:30pm a side event of the German Federal Environment Ministry took place at the EU Pavilion. Hubert Steinkemper (German Federal Environment Ministry), Thomas Becker (BMW), Ilka Petersen (WWF) and Daniel Bongardt (GTZ) discussed "Innovative transport solutions - essential in mitigation strategies and part of technology cooperation". Mr Steinkemper highlighted the need to take measures in the transport sector and the efforts of the German Government on reducing carbon emissions, while Mr Becker presented BMW's work on electric vehicles. BMW does a survey around Germany on giving a small amount of their cars to citizens and see how the car works in daily use.
After him, Ms Petersen introduced the WWF's Blueprint on Germany as Zero Carbon Action Plan for 95% reduction. To raise these efforts the measures of the blueprint should be transferred to low carbon action plans and NAMAs. Further a significant modal shift to rail is necessary.
Then Daniel Bongardt gave a short overview on the approach and the expectations in Technology Cooperation. Also he gave some practical examples of GTZ's Technology Cooperation projects in the transport sector.

Please download the Presentations of Mr Steinkemper and Mr Bongardt here:

• Technology Cooperation supported through German ODA by Daniel Bongardt
  
• Innovative Transport Solutions - Essential in Mitigation and Part of Technology Cooperations by Hubert Steinkemper

At 10am an IETA side event took place on "GHG Inventory of the Cities and how that can be used as an Input for Carbon Finance Activities". Caroline Edant representing Veolia Institute presented a study by them and the College of Europe. comparing the different tools available to cities to help prepare their GHG inventories. Comparing the different tools. a few issues of importance in comparing different plans or projects were highlighted. The most important aspect still remains that cities and countries need to make sure they know where their emissions come from. Other panelists included Konrad Ritter (World Bank), Alexia Leseur (Caisse des Dépôts). Furthermore, Lisa Demarco from the Toronto-based law firm Macloed Dixon suggested the need for a transition in thinking from making the inventories an obligation to thinking of them as an asset. According to her research, 30-40% of emissions in cities come from individual decisions made by consumers - based on our present culture of "conspicuous consumption" and strongly attached to status. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for governments and world citizens alike.

• Presentation of Caroline Edant

Below you will find the report of the study "Comparative analysis of Local GHG Inventory Tools" published by Institut Veolia Environnement and College of Europe

Download here

At 11am Potsdam Institute for climate impact research held an event on "Driving home solutions: Regional adaptation information and transport emissions trading". The event was split in two parts. At first Mr Juergen Kropp, Potsdam Institute, introduced a PIK and GTZ joint project called ci:grasp (Climate impacts: global and regional adaptation support platform), funded by the German Federal Environmental Ministry. The platform aims to provide a sound information basis on climate stimuli, climate impacts, vulnerabilities and response options. The new methodological approach will focus on the transferability of experiences and lessons learned in adapation measures. Ms Syamsidar Thamrin from the Indonesian State Ministry of National Development Planning, introduced their regional adaptation center and the activities of their ministry in implementing pilot adaptation projects in Indonesia.
Furthermore, Mr Dadang Hilman, on behalf of the Indonesian State Ministry of Environment mentioned the need for an additional information basis to get the puzzle together, as well as the need to get down to a more practical and sub-national level in future adaption planning and discussions. Presentation will be uploaded

In the second part Mr Thomas Becker (BMW), Mr Ottmar Edenhofer (Potsdam Inistute), Mr. Oliver Weinmann (Vattenfall) and Mr Bracken Hendricks (Center for American Progress) discussed "Car Industry, Road Transport and an International Emission trading Scheme - policy options (CITIES)".
Mr Becker mentioned the difficulty in limiting individual mobility and that the main options for mitigation are switching between the fuel modes. Therefore BMW and Vattenfall started a project to implement an electric MINI. Vattenfall appreciated the link between the power and the automobile industry. Formerly only the oil companies had a link to the automotive sector, whereas now there is a new market for them too. It was highlighted that there would be a shift in carbon footprint from cars to power plants, which was mentioned to be easier to handle in the future.
Prof. Edenhofer highlighted the crucial role of transport in limiting climate change to 2°. He noted that the transport sector has to be decarbonized, and that a "first best" approach would be a global cap and trade system that includes all sectors. He noted that despite market imperfections, transport could be included in a carbon market as a cost effective way of reducing emissions, most notably through an ETS which includes transport at an upstream level. Here, he noted the importance of including the power sector to preempt leakage.

Mr Hendricks then noted the need to obtain the deepest reduction as soon as possible. Whilst keeping living standards. Decarbonised cars would play the key role here. There is a challenge in developing what new forms of mobility will there be. The USA has to turn over the fleet and shifting to a new fuel infrastructure. Leadership in Economy is needed to achieve this goal.

Presentations will be uploaded

The'Bridging the Gap' initiative side event presented recent thinking from transport and climate change experts about how a framework can be put in place that will enable land transport to receive the finance, capacity building and technology it needs to implement effective mitigation and adaptation measures. The event was supported by Party negotiators, Alvaro Umaña Quesada (Costa Rica), Brice Lalonde (France), Shumani Mugeri (South Africa) and Raekwon Chung (Republic of Korea), who kindly appeared to provide their own statements regarding the importance of appropriate actions within the transportation sector.

Download the presentations here:

• Welcome Slide by Manfred Breithaupt
• A Crisis in Asian Transport: The Sustainable Transport Challenge by James Leather
• 10 Principles for Sustainable Urban Transport Development by Michael Replogle
• 10 Guiding Principles for Considering Land Transport in a Post 2012 Climate Agreement by Daniel Bongardt
• Suggestions for the Agreement: Making Copenhagen work for transport by Holger Dalkmann

Around 60 participants attended our last Side Event in COP15 on "Shaping the Future of Urban Transport".
During the Side Event Urda Eichhorst presented the new GTZ-SUTP report "Adapting Urban Transport to Climate Change" which was launched therewith.

Please find the presentations here:

• Welcome (Maria Netto, IDB)
• Introduction (Manfred Breithaupt, GTZ)
• The Partnership for Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (Cornie Huizenga, SLoCaT)
• The transport-climate challenge for developing countries (Pierpaolo Cazzola, IEA)
• Video Message from Enrique Peñalosa (former Mayor of Bogota and President of the ITDP advisory Board)

Part 1: ADAPTATION

• Towards climate proof urban transport systems - Launch of a new GTZ report (Urda Eichhorst, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy)
• How does Climate Change impact the transport sector: Adaptation Strategies (Jamie Leather, ADB)

• Co-benefits and GHG reductions through public transit (Heather Allen, UITP)
• What are transport NAMAs? (Stefan Bakker, ECN Preliminary results from an ADB/IDB study on Transport NAMAs by CCAP, Ecofys, TRL, Wuppertal Institute and Embarq)

During our Event on "Shaping the Future of Urban Transport" the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Dirk Niebel had a small cocktail reception next to our stand at COP15.
Unfortunately we had no chance to meet him.

On Sunday ADB hosted an all-day event on "Responding to Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific", where ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda pointed to the urgent need for establishing a low-carbon, climate-resilient transport sector. "No global solution can be found to the climate change challenge without real progress in the transport sector - especially in Asia," said Mr. Kuroda. "Annual transport-related carbon dioxide emissions in Asia are estimated to double between 2006 and 2030, from 1 billion to 2.3 billion tons."

Read the full text of the speech by President Kuroda here and download the presentations here:

• Transport & Climate: The Problem-The Solution, JamieLeather, ADB
• ADB: Rethinking Transport and Climate Change, Sharad Saxena, ADB
• Carbon'Footprinting' of Transport Investments, Michael Replogle, ITDP
• Applicability of post 2012 Climate Instruments to the Transport Sector, Stefan Bakker, ECN
• Co-benefits of Sustainable Transport Projects, Jane Romero, IGES
• Financial Incentives for Sustainable, Low-Carbon Transport, Ko Sakamoto,TRL
• Partnership for Sustainable, Low-Carbon transport (SLoCaT) in Developing Countries, Cornie Huizenga

The negotiations resumed on Monday morning. A very large crowd of new participants who had arrived in Copenhagen for the second week took many by surprise. Even those who had already registered were forced to stand in line outside the conference center for up to an hour to get through security. Those unfortunate participants without badges, however, found themselves much worse off. They had to spent between six to eight hours in registration lines - before being ultimately asked to return to their hotels.

It was claimed that the total number of people requesting accreditation had hit more than 40,000, thus far exceeding the 15,000 capacity of the Bella Center. Due to the large number of participants, limits will be placed on the amount of observers allowed to access the Bella Center from Tuesday onwards. With the high-level segment set to begin on Wednesday, increasingly strict restrictions will be introduced throughout the week and, according to unconfirmed reports, only 90 observers will be allowed in the conference center on Friday.

Unfortunately one member of our team was also not possible to join the conference.

Today, the global auto makers hosted a seminar at the COP15 climate change conference in Copenhagen dedicated to CO2-reduction solutions in road transport, putting the spotlight on real-life examples involving technologies as well as transportation planners and users/consumers.

The panel discussion was moderated by Bjorn Stigson, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

For more information and to download the presentations see: http://drivingsustainability.com/presentations/

Today marked the start of the High Level Segment - in other words the final few days where heads of state and ministers involve themselves in debating the final outcomes of the COP15. On one hand, the participation of more than 100 heads of state signifies the high level of political commitment to the issue of climate change -something which in may people's words has never been greater.

On the other hand, their arrival also bring a great level of chaos, and (for the non-VIPs like us), severe logistical difficulties. The number of NGO participants for example has now been limited to 7,000, to be further shrunk to 1,000 on Thursday, and only 90 on Friday when President Obama is expected to arrive. The main challenge for us now is to get inside the venue, and stay there until the end of the week!

Four members of the Bridging the Gap team were part of the lucky few who were able to attend the opening plenary session of the High Level Segment, which included speakers such as the Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer, COP15 President Connie Hedegaard, The Prince of Wales, and Nobel Prize Laureate Wangari Muta Maathai.

Earlier during the day, a few side events on transport were held as follows (event summaries from organisers):

Facing economy-wide GHG cuts of up to 80% by 2050, we review evidence on what is possible for transport, what is feasible and how much is it likely to cost. Must we travel less? Must we travel better? Who acts? Who pays? Are we losing opportunities to cut transport GHG emissions at low cost?

http://regserver.unfccc.int/seors/attachments/get_attachment?code=H77C6EHP3LZOVTHSX9KK0LCY7HI4HSXN

In May 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a new National Fuel Efficiency Policy aimed at both increasing fuel economy and reducing greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks sold in the United States. This policy responds to the country's critical need to address global climate change and to reduce oil consumption. In September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation signed a joint rulemaking that proposed the first-ever greenhouse gas emissions standards and increased fuel economy standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles for model years 2012-2016. These proposed standards would achieve approximately 950 million metric tons of total carbon dioxide equivalent emissions reductions and approximately 1.8 billion barrels of oil savings over the lifetimes of vehicles sold in model years 2012-2016. Not only is this new national policy revolutionary in its content, but it also reflects the cooperative and collaborative nature of effective government, utilizing responsibilities of and contributions by both agencies. The new national policy was also supported by key stakeholders such as automotive manufacturers and the United Auto Workers, the State of California and 13 other states, and major environmental NGOs. A panel of U.S. government representatives will discuss this new policy and its implications.

http://cop15.state.gov/uscenter/meetingroom/index.htm#tues15drivingdownemissions

Sustainable communities - in the form of efficient, compact development where walking, biking, transit, and car or ride-sharing are easy to access - can contribute significantly to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving environmental conditions. This session will highlight development strategies that can help create and enhance sustainable communities, including green building, building on already developed sites, reusing existing infrastructure and buildings, developing more compactly, making walking and biking safe and easy, mixing uses so that homes are closer to jobs and amenities, and providing a range of housing types. The presentation will describe a new Partnership for Sustainable Communities between the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help coordinate federal funding in support of sustainable communities.

http://cop15.state.gov/uscenter/meetingroom/index.htm#tues15event

With only 3 days left till the end of the conference, negotiators spent a sleepless night to arrive at a new set of text to be adopted as a potential agreement. The AWG-LCA presented their outcomes at 7AM - however, much of the text was still "bracketed" and attached with various addendums - leaving a lot of uncertainty over issues of key importance, such as reduction targets for developed countries, and the amount of support to be provided to developing countries to allow mitigation actions in those countries.

Today's program focused on the speeches of heads of state. One of the most impressive inputs was given from the President of the Maldives. The plenary was crowded and people were stopping in front of TV screens and listened to the call for action for future generations and stopping climate change. Mr. Mohamed Nasheed referred to the trip to the moon and stated that if people really want to act they are able to develop solutions. In his speech he also referred to the transport sector by saying that people do not want oil but being mobile and he encouraged developed and developing countries to seal the deal here in Copenhagen and limit climate change to 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels.

In the afternoon, ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) held a side event with a number of majors calling for action on climate change and integrating cities as they are part of the solutions and ready to act. Presentations are not uploaded yet but we will add as soon as they become available. In the meantime you may want to watch a press conference of local governments. This 20 minutes include statements of the majors of Mexico City, Nantes and Johannesburg:

http://www8.cop15.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop15/templ/play.php?id_kongressmain=1&theme=unfccc&id_kongresssession=2647

How do you choose 300 people from a group of 7,000 to remain in the venue, without making anyone angry? This was the impossible question given to the secretariat of the UNFCCC (a big hand to them who have solved so many of these impossible questions so far), and the heads of the various groups of NGOs at the end of the 10^th day of the COP15. Details aside, there was a draw from a hat, and we lost all but two of our Bridging the Gap colleagues (Holger Dalkmann and Ko Sakamoto, both TRL) from the venue - although statistically speaking this is close to a miracle!

The remaining two members of the team now have the huge responsibility, not only of keeping this blog updated, but to chase up the Hillary Clintons, Angela Merkels and John Kerrys of this world - Fortunately there is photographic evidence to suggest we have succeeded in doing so!

More importantly, we were busy following the final stages of the negotiating process, something which has been slower than optimal in the last few days. As this blog is being written, negotiators are busy at work in the various drafting groups, to tidy up the text on the key issues to be presented to the heads of state sometime tomorrow. A big question is whether the presence of politicians (ministers and heads of state) would work in the favour of "removing the brackets" from the large issues, such as the level of financing and levels of GHG reduction. We shall find out in the next 24 hours.

It is now 19:00 of the final scheduled day of the COP15. If all things had gone according to plan, President Obama and all the other leaders would now have been in line to take their "family photo" with smiling faces to congratulate the outcome of a two-year process to come up with a strong international agreement on climate change.

Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan, and here we are, still stuck inside the Bella Center, eating stale food and drinking too much bad coffee to somehow forge out an agreement. Not doing so would result in a lot of embarrassment for all the leaders who are literally placed under the scrutiny of the world.

Earlier today, leaders including President Obama met at the highest level to provide the final political push towards an agreement - such meetings continued during the course of the day. According to reports, the direction of these high-level talks have so far been very volatile. New versions of the "agreement" are being circulated informally by the press every few hours.

http://www.facebook.com/TheClimatePool#/notes/the-climate-pool/a-flurry-of-draft-texts-for-a-copenhagen-accord/234631539413

 There are further reports that heads of state have been requested by UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon to stay on for the weekend to "seal the deal". Read our blog tomorrow to find out what happened in the end!

A confusing outcome fit for a very confusing conference. Such was the mood in the venue after 26 Heads of State from the among them the US, India, China, Brazil, and South Africa agreed on a proposal for a legally non-binding agreement a.k.a. the "Copenhagen Accord". As of 4 AM on the Saturday morning when this blog is being written, it remains unclear whether this proposal will be accepted by all the other countries. An alternative proposal to continue the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention is proposed by Nicaragua supported by several other countries.

Having an initial look at the Copenhagen Accord, the following points catch our eyes:

• Continued work being proposed under the two tracks of the Kyoto Protocol and Long-term Cooperative Actions
• Underlying goal of stabilising at below 2 degree changes
• Strong consideration of adaptation,
• Figures still blank for reduction targets for developed countries
• Mitigation actions for developing countries (NAMAs) consisting of those which are conducted domestically (without support, and MRV'd domestically) and those conducted with support (MRV'd internationally).
• Only financial commitment is in the short term (2010 to 2012) of 30 billion US each year by developed countries

So, what could this mean for land transport?

Firstly, for good or for worse, there is (except for forestry) no mention of any specific sector within the text. Even reference to agriculture is now gone. This means the transport sector has an equal chance compared to the other sectors to receive attention. (Our intention of course is that all relevant sectors are addressed!)

Secondly, a strong recognition of adaptation could provide better funding for capacity building as well as investment in adaptation of transport infrastructure.

On the other hand, issues around mitigation are still left quite vague. There is no mention of say a sectoral break down of NAMAs, nor exactly how NAMAs in each sector are to be financed (and where the money will come from). Mention of co-benefits is also completely gone.

One thing to welcome however, is the mention of supporting policies and programmes, and not just projects.

Finally, there are various concepts around financing, technology transfer and capacity building which would be very relevant for transport. There is a need to start thinking of how the proposed "Copenhagen Green Climate Fund" can provide resources for sustainable, low carbon transport. Also, the Technology Mechanism being proposed should benefit from receiving specialists from the transport sector.

Negotiators spent another sleepless night, working towards adapting the Copenhagen Accord which emerged in the late hours of Friday (see previous post). The main challenge was to seek consensus amongst all parties on this Accord. Fault lines were clear right from the start, as several countries such as Venezuela and Sudan objected to the process through which this document was born - wishing to change the official status of this document to what is essentially reference material.

The negotiations reached a stalemate at around 8 AM - at which time the COP President adjourned the meeting and behind-the-scenes consultations took place. This went on for a few hours, with small groups of delegates bunched around each other in various corners of the huge hall.

Then at roughly 9:30 AM, there was a sudden announcement that a solution was found!! The wording is now that parties can opt in onto a list to "take note" of the Accord (c.f. adopt it - which has a more powerful meaning) - whilst also mandating the AWG-KP and AWG-LCA with one more year of work. The plenary was temporarily filled with an air of relief and clapping of hands.

Later, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made a speech mentioning that this outcome was a good start, but that there was much more to do to ensure that this would become legally binding by the COP16 next year in Mexico City.

The Bridging the Gap team leaves Copenhagen after witnessing this historical moment, and after two weeks of intensive work. We all wish you a very happy holiday season and a happy new year!! Let's hope that we can get transport on the climate agenda in 2010, when the discussions enter into details.