The UN Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen are starting to look more like a three-ringed circus, and the tightrope on which the negotiators are carefully treading is starting to fray. UNFCCC President Connie Hedegaard resigned this morning to allow room for Danish Prime Minster Lars Løkke Rasmussen to lead the talks. Hundreds of protesters staged another demonstration today in front of the Bella Centre where the negotiations are being held, and were dispersed by police with tear gas and hundreds of arrests. Developing countries walked out of the negotiations for 5 hours over concerns that the Kyoto Protocol was being abandoned. And leaked documents from the Canadian government show that federal Cabinet draft presentation notes included vastly weaker sectoral GHG reduction targets than those proposed in the government’s 2007 Turning the Corner plan, and show that Canada’s draft negotiating position would not even achieve the government’s relatively weak target of a 3% cut over 1990 levels by 2020. Canada’s position throughout the conference has earned it daily “Fossil of the Day” awards for obstructing the negotiations. And Canadian premiers and mayors have also roundly criticized the federal government’s position as laggardly and out of step with Canadians and the rest of the world. 

Frustrations from all parties are running high as the talks enter their sunset phase. World leaders will continue to arrive in the Danish capital until Friday, when the talks are scheduled to finish. Their presence should hopefully bring some more order to the increasingly chaotic negotiations.  But there are mixed views as to whether their political presence will undermine the science on which these negotiations should be based, or whether it signals the political will to drive an agreement forward.  With only 24 hours until the official close of the conference, there is no doubt that much work remains to be done.

By Jeff Beyer, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)