Today is my birthday, and to celebrate the UN has published the official Copenhagen guest list. It runs to 3 volumes,  and includes some suitably rock and roll entries. First prize goes to “The Compensators”. Whether or not they have a Motown history remains unclear, but it’s something of a supergroup either way. George Clooney’s in it, alongside Tommy lee Jones. Sir David Attenborough is a ‘compensator’ too, presumably as MC, and so is the Bishop of London, maybe heading up the choir. To seal a record deal, they’ve also signed up Richard Benson, ‘founder of virgin unite’. Questions as to whether that’s a fairly transparent cover for Branson remain unanswered.

Another day, another EU proposal, this time a 50% cut in the rate of deforestation by 2020 and a complete halt by 2030. But Brazil said it did not want a specific target or timetable, which is a blow given that it has the biggest swath of trees in the world. The Brazilians are probably not too happy with Google either. They stepped in with a new technology that enables online, global-scale observation of changes in the earth’s forests.

Meanwhile, more than half the world’s countries pledged to only sign a deal that attempts to hold temperature increases to no more than 1.5 degrees. The current target is 2 degrees. They have day to day evidence on their side.

“We have two research stations, one in the pacific and one in the Caribbean. They both suggest a rise of 2 degrees is completely untenable for us,” said Dessima Williams, a diplomat speaking for island states. “Our islands are disappearing, our coral reefs are bleaching, and we are losing our fish supplies”. Tears were shed by delegates from sub-saharan Africa as they described the impact of climate change on their people.

But Chairman of the talks Yvo de Boer was dismissive. Giving the 1.5 degree target little hope of success, he summed up by saying “industrialised countries have pinned their hopes on 2 degrees.” His grumpiness might be because he’s spent the whole day trying to find the tea bags. He’s clearly vexed by the Bella Centre’s facilities, saying “it’s like moving into a new house. You do not know where the books are, you can’t find anything in the kitchen”.

The second problem in keeping temperature rises to 1.5 degrees is that it requires CO2 levels of around 350ppm (parts per million). We’re currently on about 387 and there’s no proven technology for removing CO2 from the air.

But then the subject of how much of what is in the air was coming under scrutiny yesterday. Professor Weiss has been looking into current measurements of greenhouse gases, and urged us to add ‘a few grains of salt’ to promises of accurate emissions quotas. More than a few it seems when measurements of various gases have been found to be four times higher than stated. This is a discrepancy which could be “the iceberg on which the entire conference could founder,” said Peter Goldmark, of the Environmental Defence fund.

Ominously, the Chinese and Indian delegations are resisting proposals allowing for international checks post any deal. The US favors a cheerily titled ‘sunshine policy’, under which countries wouldn’t face any serious consequences for breaching limits. This type of sunshine may warm things up more than we’d like.

The Sydney Morning Herald gave a party feel to late night climate negotiations taking place in Brussels. “EU pulls all-nighter” was how they described the discussions as to how much money Europe is going to give developing nations to tackle global warming. Unsurprisingly, the wealthy EU states are struggling to persuade the poorer ones to contribute. The largest donation on the table at the moment is from the UK, who’ve offered nearly 883 million Euros. This offer is presumably safe in the knowledge that the government can ask the Bank of England to print the money when required.

Across the Atlantic, senators from both parties have been busy redrafting a climate bill that might have a chance of getting passed. It suggests an emissions reduction of 17% percent by 2020 relative to 2005 levels, a cut so meagre that the president of brazil described the US as ”wanting to be treated like a developing nation”.

Undeterred, Obama is going for a presidential first year record, and is trying to squeeze in a 10th trip before Christmas. The good news is that this trip is to get him to Copenhagen early. On the basis that all world leaders want to be near glory and far from failure this could be taken to be a good sign. However, the guardian newspaper’s ‘hope-o-meter’ remains stuck on 2/5.

Billionaire George Soros entered the fray with a scheme to unlock the cash value of gold reserves to add to the funds available to tackle global warming. Speaking as a man who can afford to lose a dollar or two, he said, “if the choice is between cooking alive and wasting money unnecessarily i would rather waste some money”

Money is clearly no object to Max Burger, the Swedish fast food chain that has added CO2 emissions to the illuminated menu of meal packages above the counter. Max burger’s boss was straightforward about the objective.

“we want people to eat less meat”

andy cato