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Prime Minister Harper arrived in Copenhagen today to attend the Leaders' dinner hosted by Queen Margarethe II. The Prime Minister discussed global climate change issues with other world leaders in advance of the High-Level Session on Friday, December 18.
For my part, I met with representatives of the Umbrella Group, which - in addition to Canada - consists of Australia, the United States, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, Russia and Iceland. Following that, I took part in a plenary session convened by Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, and then took the time to engage with colleagues on the Canadian delegation about the sessions headed by Connie Hedegaard.
I also had a meeting with Dr. Gro Brundtland, who is the former, well-respected Prime Minister of Norway, and the special envoy to Ban Ki-Moon in these proceedings.
And to top the day off, I delivered Canada's National Statement to the UNFCCC plenary a little before midnight.
Our climate change Ambassador and Chief Negotiator, Michael Martin, has been hard at work, as have our team of negotiators. They have been taking part in the various working groups struck by Connie Hedegaard this afternoon, one of which is co-chaired by Canada. These groups were formed when Prime Minister Rasmussen opened and closed the COP plenary and directed Connie Hedegaard to strike the two working groups with the mandate of reporting back on matters of consensus and matters of disagreement on the Kyoto track and on the convention track.
Canada wants an agreement - this is why we are here in Copenhagen. We will continue to work day and night at the negotiating table, and we will continue to do everything we can to support our Danish hosts in reaching this goal
- Jim
A number of important things have transpired today, the first day of the high-level segment of the Copenhagen climate change conference.
Last night, the two negotiating groups met to consider reports on the status of their work. These discussions continued over night. This morning, their reports, including draft decision texts, were provided to the President of the COP.
Given the growing presence of heads of government and state, the Prime Minister of Denmark assumed the Presidency, with Minister Hedegaard continuing as his special representative for the purposes of conducting consultations with Ministers.
Ministers and Leaders began national statements today and will continue until early Friday morning.
While the President of the COP was expected to convene a friends of the chair group of approximately 48 countries, that meeting has yet to be convened.
Canada remains strongly supportive of the continuing efforts of the Presidency to build a consensus on a robust post-2012 climate change agreement. We continue to be supportive of the process, and we look forward to finalizing a text for consideration by Leaders this week, including Prime Minister Harper.
-Jim
Here in Copenhagen, Canada continues to work towards creating a new global consensus on a new international framework for dealing with carbon emissions.
We made some significant progress today. COP15 President Connie Hedegaard has followed a process over the last two days of consultation on a variety of issues. We think that has been a very constructive way to move forward and we're pleased to be at the point where the work that has been done in the negotiating groups will be passed forward for consideration by Ministers.
The President will be drawing together a smaller group of countries to work on this and to begin the discussion of how the ministerial segment will work and how we will move forward over the next two days before the arrival of Leaders here later in the week.
Canada is one of the countries participating in that smaller group. Those meetings may convene as early as this evening, and I will be present when they begin, as will Michael Martin, our Climate Change Ambassador.
The work of the Danish President is to be commended, and we look forward to moving ahead in these negotiations. Our intent is to be here as a constructive participant, hopefully to arrive at a new international arrangement, and we intend to carry forward on that constructive footing over the course of the week.
- Jim
This morning we began early with a first session of the advisors I have invited to participate in these meetings.
We had an excellent meeting where I shared my sense of where things are at this meeting, the challenges that lie ahead and the work that remains to be done.
This afternoon, I participated in a working luncheon with Peter Lundy, Canada's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, along with all of the provincial and territorial Premiers and ministers who are present here in Copenhagen. We had a frank exchange of viewpoints and constructive discussion and I think it's fair to say we're pleased with the way in which the federal-provincial cooperation has been taking place.
Following that, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu and I sat down to discuss the release of the Technological Action Plans (TAPS) and launch of the new Climate Renewable and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (REDI) Program.
In the negotiations this morning, the chair announced the process which she intends to follow going forward in terms of informal consultations, and on a number of issues that were identified yesterday. There were a number of very specific issues that were identified in the course of the informal ministerial session yesterday, which the chair had decided to proceed with consultations on. At that meeting yesterday there were 48 ministers in attendance, and we spent the better part of the day canvassing the various issues. The chair felt that the best way forward was to break those issues into a series of consultations that would be taking place, and so she has asked a small number of countries to help her by leading the consultations on each of those issues.
- Jim
This evening, I had the great pleasure of sitting down with the entire Canadian delegation here in Copenhagen. Meeting the men and women who are representing Canada in these international negotiations is always a highlight of any such event.
The group we have here in Copenhagen is, man for man - woman for woman, very competent, and I'm very proud of that. On behalf of our Prime Minister and myself, I offer them my thanks for their hard work over the years. I believe, with their help, we're going to get something important done here to prevent dangerous climate change.
Informal consultations among ministers continued today. Connie Hedegaard, President of this Conference, invited ministers from approximately 50 developed and developing countries to a further discussion today on key issues and to outline the plan of work for this week.
Michael Martin and I attended the full-day session. The major issue currently before us is how mitigation commitments and actions will be reflected in a Copenhagen agreement. Canada, as you know, believes the negotiations should provide the foundation for the conclusion in 2010 of a single legally binding post-2012 agreement including commitments and actions that would cover the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions from all countries, with commitments by all major economies if it is to be environmentally effective.
After lunch, we reviewed progress on finance and focused on governance issues. There are a variety of proposals on the table, including relating to the fast start funding from the 2010 to 2012 period, and many different proposals relating to how we would scale up finance from all sources in the longer term.
So there's considerable work to be done.
The President of COP15 will be continuing consultations over the next few days on specific aspects of the draft text, and we'll be working together with certain groups over the course of the day tomorrow to address key issues.
Lastly, I believe Canadians, as a country, have great confidence in the Danish presidency of COP15. Canada will continue to work hard here to achieve an agreement over the remaining days to try to build a consensus amongst all the parties for a strong post-2012 climate change agreement and to have matters well in hand by the time the leaders arrive later this week.
After months of consultations and planning, it's great to be here in Copenhagen.
I have just returned from the first session convened by Connie Hedegaard, the chair of the conference, in which we discussed the positions of the countries as we head into the week of ministerial negotiations.
Our government continues to work in an active and constructive way at these negotiations. Canada remains committed to a fair and effective agreement that can be converted into a full binding international treaty in the months that follow.
That's our objective as a country, and we're committed in a constructive way to participate in the negotiations.
In the talks today, parties continued to discuss the proposed overall decision texts of the two negotiating working groups released by the chairs yesterday. Working groups under the Long-term Collective Action (LCA) and Kyoto Protocol (KP) continued to consider various issues. The Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) concluded their work this afternoon and this evening.
I look forward to participating in the negotiations over the rest of the week. We will continue to work closely with the over 190 nations represented here to achieve an agreement for all Canadians.
- Jim
My day began with a meeting with accredited Canadian observers here in Copenhagen. These meetings provide a daily opportunity for me to hear views and opinions on Canada's approach to the negotiations from a diverse group of Canadians, including youth, non-governmental organizations and business.
Today we continued the work under the COP and CMP in drafting decision texts for consideration by Ministers. The day started with a rare joint plenary meeting to introduce consolidated draft proposals by both negotiating group chairs on the outcome of their work. On first reading, the proposed draft text on long-term cooperative action (LCA) raises some concerns. When compared to our policy paper, this document shows that we have made much more progress in some areas, such as adaptation and technology, than in other areas, such as mitigation and finance. These areas will require considerable work if this text is to become the basis, as we hope, of a new legally binding agreement.
Canada's negotiating team will study these carefully before returning to informal discussions this evening in preparation for tomorrow's ministerial discussion on the way forward across the whole COP.
- Michael
The Copenhagen negotiations continued today. As with yesterday, the day was divided between a plenary session under the Conference of the Parties (CMP) and thirty-five separate sessions dealing with the full range of issues under discussion on both negotiating tracks.
Canadian negotiators were active in all sessions, including, in some cases, as co-chairs of drafting groups. As we continue drafting decision texts, the work is focussed on building consensus on each specific issue on the agenda or framing clear options for consideration by Ministers next week.
In the plenary session of the CMP, however, progress was more difficult. There were a number of items on the agenda today, including one to consider amendments to the Kyoto Protocol proposed by a number of Parties. Parties were unable to agree on how to proceed on the consideration of these proposals. The President suspended the item for further informal discussions, which will continue in the hope of bringing these proposals back to the table. As we get closer to the end of the week, we should expect the debate on key issues to intensify.
- Michael
Day three of the Copenhagen conference kicked off with our daily stakeholder briefing. As expected, these are being well attended by Canadians here at COP15. These sessions are always a highlight of my role as Canada's Chief Negotiator, as they allow me to hear the views of youth, environmental groups, business and other Canadian observers in attendance.
On the negotiations front, Canada, along with other parties, began the process of drafting decision texts on many of the key issues under discussion in advance of the arrival of Ministers. Progress continues at these negotiations, as Canada works with other parties to build consensus a fair, effective and comprehensive agreement.
- Michael
The second day of COP15 saw the negotiations move into informal groups designed to begin drafting decisions for consideration by the Conference in a full range of areas, including mitigation, adaptation, technology, forests and finance. In addition, work began under the Subsidiary Bodies of the Convention.
The negotiations are now fully underway in Copenhagen. The Bella Centre is alive with activity as more and more delegates, observers, and other groups continue to engage actively in the discussions.
- Michael
Today, Canada participated in the opening ceremonies for COP15, which included an opening film and a performance by the Danish National Girls Choir accompanied by Danish musician, Palle Mikkelborg.
This was followed by opening statements by Danish Prime Minister Lars Lĝkke Rasmussen, the Chair of the IPCC Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, and UNFCCC Secretary General Yvo de Boer.
With that, the 15th Conference of the Parties began. Canada participated in all meetings under the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. Meetings today focused on adopting agendas, procedures and other organizational matters. In their opening statement, the Umbrella Group of Countries, which includes Canada, Iceland, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Norway, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the United States and Australia, underlined the importance of achieving a comprehensive outcome at Copenhagen that sets the world on the path to a low-carbon future.
- Michael