US President Barack Obama brought no new offers with him to Copenhagen on Friday, but he has made progress in talks with China.
This Decade the Warmest on Record
As if there wasn't enough urgency surrounding the climate summit currently underway in Copenhagen, the top weather expert for the United Nations announced on Tuesday that this decade is likely to be the warmest on record.
"The decade 2000 to 2009 is very likely to be the warmest on record, warmer than the 1990s, which were in turn warmer than the 1980s," said Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organisation.
He also said that the year 2009 would likely end up being the fifth warmest year since accurate weather records began being kept in 1850. According to data released by Britain's Met Office, average global surface temperatures have risen by more than 0.15 degrees Celsius per year since the mid-1970s.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency in the US, 2005 was the warmest year on record with the eight warmest years all having occurred since 2001.
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Copenhagen Off to a Good Start
The forecast for the first week of the Copenhagen conference is sunshine and blue skies. And the weather inside the conference itself looks to be rather pleasant as well.
A number of industrialized countries have agreed to contribute to a fund to help poorer countries battle climate change. Jonathan Pershing, head of the American delegation in Copenhagen, confirmed on Monday that the United States, one of the world's largest polluters, is prepared to contribute its fair share to a $30 billion fund between 2010 and 2012.
The European Union has also indicated a willingness to help out the global poor. In a draft version of the climate summit's concluding statement, which has been seen by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, it says that the EU is "willing to pay its share of relief aid for the years 2010 to 2012."
Just how much that share might be remains uncertain, but it could be as high as €2 billion to €3 billion per year according to an anonymous EU diplomat quoted by the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Negotiations on the aid total promise to be one of the stickiest points in the days of talks ahead.
That wasn't the only bit of good climate news on Monday. The US Environmental Protection Agency announced that carbon dioxide was a risk to public health and the welfare of the people, authorizing the agency to create new, more stringent emissions standards for vehicles, facilities and businesses under the Clean Air Act.
The findings, based on decades of peer-reviewed scientific data according to the EPA, is a clear admission that climate change is real and carbon dioxide emissions are a main cause. The breakthrough will not only give US President Barack Obama a stronger hand in Copenhagen negotiations, but should also give the climate bill he wants to get past the US Senate a much needed boost.
"That (greenhouse gas) increase is deteriorating the natural balance in our atmosphere and changing our climate," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in prepared remarks. "The overwhelming amounts of scientific study show that the threat is real -- as does the evidence before our very eyes."
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