UN Climate Change Conference

An agreement drawn up Friday night by leaders from the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa has been recognized Saturday morning by the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

An agreement dubbed the Copenhagen Accord drawn up by a limited group of countries Friday night was formally accepted by the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) during a closing session on Saturday morning, Reuters reports.

While the head of China’s climate delegation thought “everyone should be happy”, it was uncertain late Friday night whether the “Copenhagen Accord” agreed by the US, China, South Africa and India would win broader support among countries.

After a ”Copenhagen Accord” was agreed by the US, China, South Africa and India in Copenhagen, it was still unclear by Friday midnight which other countries were willing to support and sign it.

According to a senior Obama administration official the United States, China, India and South Africa have reached a "meaningful agreement" on climate change Friday evening.

A senior Obama administration official says the US, China, India and South Africa have reached a "meaningful agreement" on climate change.

In a newly written draft named the “Copenhagen Accord” a 2010-deadline for reaching a legally binding climate treaty has been dropped, Reuters reported Friday afternoon.

A new draft for a global climate deal in Copenhagen has leaked to the press. The draft has been named the “Copenhagen Accord”, Reuters reports.

The European Union makes clear it is ready to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels - if the US and China "do their part".

The European Union will raise its emission reduction target from the 20 percent previously announced by 2020 to 30 percent "in a global ambitious agreement". 

New estimates of sea level change including the dynamics of the big ice sheets are way higher than the IPCC 2007 estimate.

In an epoch report published in 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that oceans would rise by 18-59 centimeters in 2100. In a new report, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme estimates the increase to be more than the double.

Copenhagen climate talks partly suspended on Monday noon after African-led protests.

The main session of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen was suspended Monday just before noon, following protests led by African countries, Reuters reports. The African countries accused developed countries of trying to wreck the existing Kyoto Protocol.

New computer modeling suggests the Arctic Ocean may be nearly ice-free in the summertime as early as 2014, Al Gore said Monday at the UN climate conference.

Northern polar sea ice has been retreating dramatically. These new projections suggest an almost-vanished summer ice cap much earlier than foreseen by a US government agency just eight months ago.

"It is hard to capture the astonishment that the experts in the science of ice felt when they saw this," former US Vice President Gore told reporters and other conference participants at a joint briefing with Scandinavian officials and scientists, his first appearance at the two-week session.

December 12, 2009.

11 December 2009 edition of video blog by Saleemul

Some African leaders may boycott the summit on Thursday and Friday: "It would be a pity if a conflict meant that we don't reach an agreement," says UN top climate official.

African countries say that significant progress needs to be made in climate negotiations during the next few days in Copenhagen. If that does not happen, it is indicated that some leaders may stay away from the summit on Thursday and Friday, reports The Guardian.

Danish police stopped an unauthorized demonstration on a second day of street protests over climate change as environment ministers met for informal talks to advance negotiations on a new pact.

Police stopped an unauthorized demonstration headed toward the city's harbor and carried out a security check of some of the participants, Copenhagen police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch told.

The hundreds of demonstrators were outnumbered by police officers in riot gear who surrounded them. Steen Munch said police found bolt-cutters and gas masks when they searched a truck that led the demonstration. At least 200 activists were detained, he said.

The world should at least cut its total greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050, says the document from a key UN working group.

A key working group under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) came up with a six-page text Friday. The draft may form the core of a new global agreement to combat climate change beyond 2012, when the present framework, the Kyoto Protocol, expires.