Climate Chronicle

Printed copies are available in Copenhagen at the KlimaForum and the Bella Center.

Climate Chronicle is a co-publication of Transnational Institute's Carbon Trade Watch, Earthlife Africa and the Institute for Security Studies.

This page will be updated every two days.

Climate Chronicle No. 5, 17 December 2009
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Selected articles

• Climate Justice protestors reclaim power as UN talks dither
  Oscar Reyes
  With ministers and heads of states arriving in Copenhagen, protests surrounded the climate change conference venue, while negotiations remained blocked.

Climate Chronicle No. 4, 14 December 2009
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Selected articles:

• Divide and rule: paving the way to an unjust deal
  As climate talks enter their final phase, Oscar Reyes outlines the hardball negotiating tactics being used to force a weak deal that favours industrialised nations.

Climate Chronicle No. 3, 11 December 2009
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Selected articles:

• Climate technologies: a leap into the unknown
  A new “technology mechanism” could reward untested techniques that damage the climate, warns Oscar Reyes.

Climate Chronicle NO. 2, 9 December 2009
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Selected articles:

• Copenhagen Plan B: “protect the rich”
  A leaked text of the political declaration that could conclude the Copenhagen conference reveals back-room dealings that offer little to the Majority World, writes Oscar Reyes.

• Copenhagen: Where Africa Took On Obama
  Respected author Naomi Klein spoke at the opening of the KlimaForum on Monday night, where she also found time to interview Nnimmo Bassey, the much celebrated Nigerian human rights activist of Environmental Rights Action. 

• Sasol & CDM: The Developed World Pays Sasol to Increase its Carbon Emissions
  South African based multinational, Sasol, is nominated for the Angry Mermaid Award for its national and international lobbying campaign to promote Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a clean solution to the dirty business of producing liquid fuels from coal and gas. Tristen Taylor of Earthlife Africa Johannesburg tells the story of its many attempts to benefit from carbon trading.

Climate Chronicle No. 1, 7 December 2009
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• “The time to act is now”… or later
  The rapid talking down of expectations for Copenhagen signals a lack of commitment on the part of industrialised countries, writes Trusha Reddy. In place of divide and rule tactics, a fundamental change of direction is needed to expand their targets and dump the market-based approach.

• The spectre of “overpopulation”
  Whenever global environmental crises, poverty or world hunger are at issue, the overpopulation argument is raised. It is now occurring in debates on the worsening climate situation, warns Sarah Sexton.

• Climate headed for crash landing
  Imagine sending your own daughter on a plane that has only 50 per cent chance of landing. You would never do it. Yet sadly as we gear up for the biggest climate meeting in Copenhagen,  this is what many developed countries seem prepared to do with our planet, argues Pablo Solón.

• Edging out fossil fuels and false solutions in the UK
  Kevin Smith
  The Climate Camp movement in the UK diversified its actions this year, taking on carbon trading whilst continuing to target carbon-intensive infrastructure.

• Climate activism heats up in South Africa
  South African civil society fired up in 2009 to respond to its government’s destructive industrial strategy, writes Tristen Taylor.

• Who’s in the Climate Caravan?
  Sixty activists from the global South and Europe are currently touring Europe on their way to Copenhagen. Starting out at Seventh Sessions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Geneva from 30 November to 2 December, the tour passes through Italy, Germany, France and Belgium before arriving in Copenhagen on 9 December.

• What the Clouds Say
  On the tenth anniversary of the WTO protests in Seattle, activists across the USA protested for climate justice. Rachel Smolker tells her story.

• The carbon lobby: Climate business
  The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) is a lobbying powerhouse at the UN climate change talks, and a prime candidate for the Angry Mermaid Award.

• Change Trade, Not Our Climate!
  Global trade rules are stacked in favour of a poor deal for the climate, argues Ronnie Hall.