Copenhagen Summit – Day 2 Summary

Day 2 of the United Nations climate talks in Copehagen is underway. The UK continues to push for a global agreement that’s ambitious, effective and fair. Thanks for backing the bid and helping us secure the 2 degree deal.

US announcement - The US Government has declared carbon dioxide a ‘toxic’ gas that endangers public health in a judgement that gives the Obama administration a legal basis for capping harmful emissions.

The ruling will allow the agency to regulate planet-warming gases even without legislation in Congress. Under existing laws the agency could begin to make rules as soon as next year to regulate emissions from vehicle exhausts, power utilities and heavy industry.

Ed’s Copenhagen send-off - Ed Miliband is taking part in a public meeting today in Manchester, jointly organised with Manchester Friends of the Earth. This will be Ed’s last public event before he travels to Copenhagen.

Coinciding with the launch of Manchester’s climate change action plan, the event will include speakers such as The Guardian’s John Harris and Friends of the Earth’s Campaigns director Mike Childs.

EU committed to move to 30% - The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have made a public push for the European Union to commit to deeper cuts in carbon emissions in a bid to strike an ambitious deal on climate change in Copenhagen.

Gordon Brown urged EU leaders to raise its offer on cuts in carbon emissions to 30% by 2020 compared with 1990, compared with its current pledge of a 20% reduction.

DoThe GreenThings Video - As the Copenhagen Summit is our climate’s last chance saloon, it would help if we all understood what’s got to happen there. To make that simple, Green Thing has produced a Quick Recipe for a Successful Copenhagen with diplomacy illustrated through the medium of cookery. Watch it. Share it. Don’t try to cook it. And remember, as Chef says: “It does not have to be pretty, it just has to work.”

Last decade warmest on record, says Met Office – The last 10 years have been ‘by far’ the warmest decade the world has experienced since modern records began, the UK’s Met Office announced in Copenhagen on 8 December. It said the figures showed that the world continues to see global temperature rise most of which is due to increasing emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It added that the data clearly show that the argument that global warming has stopped is flawed.

Melting ice bear sculpture sends ‘powerful climate message’ – It is the powerful metaphor for man-made climate change. Artist Mark Coreth is sculpting a Polar bear out of ice which will slowly melt as negotiators work towards a global climate change deal in Copenhagen.

“Danish text” raises furore – According to The Guardian, developing countries “react furiously” after a draft text allegedly written by the UN conference’s host country was leaked Tuesday.

Top UN scientist: What Climategate? In harsh wording Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, defends British colleagues whose hacked emails have ignited debate over the credibility of mainstream climate science.