Copenhagen day four: Tuvalu shows the way as G77/China group starts to fracture

Tuvalu won an unprecedented “Ray of the Day” award for their refusal to back down from demanding a legally-binding Copenhagen Deal. Tuvalu’s lead negotiator Ian Fry spoke in the open plenary:

“Unfortunately we cannot accept your ruling on this matter. This issue is too important for us. We cannot accept an informal process. And therefore if this cannot be resolved by procedure, then we will call for the suspension of the COP.”

Backed by Brazil, but opposed by China, this resulted in the Kyoto Protocol discussions being put on hold, as the Danish Presidency tried to find consensus behind closed doors.

This signals the first real show of disunity amongst the G77/China group at COP15, where large emitters are most concerned with their right to develop, and poorer nations see adaptation finance as their priority. There are now twelve different draft texts being put together, raising questions of whether any meaningful agreement can be found amongst the parties before the high level sessions start at the end of next week.

FOSSIL OF THE DAY:

Russia was also targeted at the Fossil of the Day awards for announcing that their seemingly positive targets were only a political statement, rather than a commitment under the Kyoto Protocol.

First place went jointly to Canada and Croatia, who both wanted the the year from which emission start to be measured to be moved from 1990 to 2005 – allowing them to hide their emissions during that period – and Tuvalu received of the first ever “Ray of the Day” award.