That was the (climate) week that was.

By: Fidelis Zvomuya on December 13th, 2009

The negotiating rooms at the UN’s Copenhagen climate summit were thick with suspicion during the first half of the two-week event. In this article I take a look at some of the negotiators and what they said.

Tuvalu

Tuvalu, the world’s fourth smallest country, played David against various Goliaths, calling for an aggregate carbon dioxide reduction target of 45% below 1990 levels, more stringent than most others have contemplated. Why should an island of 12,000 people go so far? Tuvalu is being submerged. The 10 square mile (about 26 square kilometre) island  releases negligible amounts of greenhouse gases. But climate change means its future is hanging by the skin of its teeth.

The G77 chair, Ambassador Lumumba Di-Aping

Probably COP15’s newsmaker of the week, and certainly a darling of the media. The firebrand, straight talker and suave Sudanese is chairman of the G77+China grouping. He scorned the EU as “21st century climate change colonialists”. Lumumba also made waves when he accused rich countries of trying to subvert the negotiation process. At one point he wept for the sudden death he said would overtake 80% of the world’s people if they are not enabled to withstand climate change. Best quote: “Ten billion dollars under the current scenario will not buy the poor of developing countries coffins, let alone address the serious problems that this challenge is causing.”

Yvo de Boer

COP15’s public face, De Boer is executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The ultimate diplomat, he finds the positive in even the most negative turns  and steadfastly refers to the IPCC’s recommended 4o% emissions cuts as a “guiding light” for negotiators.

Ambassador Yu Qing Tai

Deputy head of the Chinese delegation. Best quote: “For the developed countries, when it’s a matter of emission space it boils down to this: they say ‘What’s ours is ours, and what we’ve taken from you we’ll keep.’ For us, we say our emission space is under occupation, and we want it back.”

Alf Wills

South Africa’s deputy director-general in the department of environmental affairs, regarded as being as tough as the Rock of Gibraltar. Wills is one of the tallest negotiators in Copenhagen, and possibly the only male delegate with a ponytail. Best quote: “We cannot agree to the 50/50 (halving emissions by 2050) because it implies that the remaining (cuts) must be done by developing countries.”

Jonathan Pershing

The US deputy special envoy for climate change. A smooth talker and shrewd negotiator, Pershing weighs every word and refuses to accept anything the US Senate may reject. He was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report.

Connie Hedegaard

Denmark’s stylish climate minister is pushing hard to keep the feverish negotiations alive. The driving force behind Denmark’s alternative energy success is tipped by some as a future European climate commissioner.

Dessima Williams

Grenada’s UN ambassador and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, which seeks a temperature rise of below 1.5 C to save its 43 members from rising sea levels. Most  quotable quote: “The G77 is not breaking up.”