EU Summit Dallying Copenhagen Heads for a Crash

From Spiegel, by Christian Schwägerl

Angela Merkel is blocking aid commitments for climate protection and risking the failure of a global deal in Copenhagen. The chancellor is squandering an opportunity to demonstrate European leadership and show Barack Obama what it really means to be a "citizen of the world."

She was once celebrated as the "Climate Chancellor" and seen as an important campaigner for the environment on the international political stage. Now it appears that it is Angela Merkel, of all people, who is dealing a death blow to international climate deals -- by navigating a shortsighted course within the European Union.

On the first day of the EU summit meeting, with bloc leaders gathered in Brussels, Merkel adopted a stance which enraged environmentalists. The EU, Merkel was quoted as saying, should not be overly hasty in offering financial aid to developing countries for climate-related projects and should wait on China and the US. Concrete pledges should not be made, she said.

What does this mean? A big dispute about money is looming at December's climate summit in Copenhagen. The poorer countries, led by China, are demanding sizable CO2 reductions from Western states. They base their demand on the fact that the West is historically to blame for pumping the largest proportion of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But the richer countries, led by the US, reply that the CO2 emissions from highly populated countries like China and India are rising dramatically -- meaning that it is they are responsible for future emissions.

Environmental strategists like Yvo de Boer, who heads the UN Climate Convention and Achim Steiner, head of the UN's Environment Program, see only one way to overcome this impasse: Extensive financial aid from the West.

Such funds should help to cover the additional costs of setting up renewable energy forms, more efficient technologies and green infrastructures in developing countries. Only in that way can it be guaranteed that the most environmentally nondestructive technologies are implemented globally, to put a halt on catastrophic climate change, its advocates say. The talk is of €20 billion ($30 billion) starting immediately, then €50 billion from 2016 and €100 billion annually from 2020. This extra burden should be covered by the US, the EU and Japan.

'Sorry, Kids, We've Spent all our Money on the Banks'

Merkel's decision to block a concrete financial pledge will not exactly boost enthusiasm in other parts of the world -- rather it will dampen it. When delays are created by the Europeans, who always pride themselves on being frontrunners in climate protection, then the US and China can get away with not making any progress.

The Copenhagen summit in December, on which scientists and environmental activists are placing their hopes, is at risk of collapse due to mutual blocking on the part of both rich and poorer countries. A failure could set global climate protection efforts back by years.

Should the EU now follow Merkel's lead, then she will have played a prominent role in that setback. If the EU refuses to agree on concrete financial pledges, it will strengthen the impression that the West isn't prepared to seriously address climate protection.

The chancellor may be exhausted from negotiations in Berlin over her new coalition government, in which every single euro has been haggled over. She may also be scratching her head over where to find the billions of euros that she needs to finance the tax-cut programs insisted on by her junior coalition partner, the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP). And she may still be dizzy from the enormous economic aid packages she had to finance in the past year to save banks and major businesses. But now there is no money left to save the planet? Does she really want to wait until this perfidious poker match gets to the very last second before naming a figure for climate aid in order to save as much as she can -- saving at the cost of keeping the planet inhabitable?

Sorry kids, we've plunged all of our money into the banks and you can now sweat to pay the debt back -- is that Merkel's message for the next generation?

The new coalition government of the conservatives and the FDP has just presented its policy plan for the next four years -- and it certainly contains some good news for the planet. The government wants to reduce emissions by 80 percent by 2050, it wants to expand subsidy programs for renewable energies -- but none of that will help if we are unable to come to a global agreement to stop the emissions of greenhouse gases.

Merkel Has Opportunity to Trump Obama as a 'Citizen of the World'

Merkel is presented with the unique opportunity of demonstrating to US President Barack Obama just how political eminence works. She could demonstrate to her trans-Atlantic colleague just how one transcends domestic sensibilities to make decisions that may not be immediately popular back home. Merkel has the chance to do something that would be beneficial for all humankind -- but which would especially help those in poor countries which will suffer considerably from global warming in the future.

When Obama visited Berlin in 2008 during his campaign, he said he was a "citizen of the world." But the issue of global warming has so far been largely absent from his foreign policy. Under pressure from domestic oil, coal and automobile lobbies, America's already moderate CO2 emissions reductions goal have been further watered down. In the ongoing international debate about climate change, the US still is not playing a productive role. To be sure, Obama has put together the environmental dream team with a Nobel laureate as energy secretary and one of the co-discoverers of global warming as an advisor. He also included billions in aid to renewable energies as part of his country's economic stimulus package. But as a citizen of the world, he has to do his part to ensure that the rest of the world begins charting a greener course. The world needs the US to take a leading role in combating global warming. So far, though, America has failed to do so.

Next week, Chancellor Merkel will be in Washington. She has been granted the rare honor of speaking to a joint session of Congress. It would be the ideal moment to say: "President Obama, Europe is making €40 billion available to finance climate projects in the developing world. We in Europe are going to reduce our CO2 emissions by 30 percent by 2020 relative to 1990 levels."

"Are you Americans citizens of the world as we are? Or are you going to leave this planet's children in the lurch?"

Maldives cabinet to go underwater

From BBC NEWS

The government of the Maldives is to hold a cabinet meeting underwater to highlight the threat of global warming.

President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet will sign a document during the 17 October dive, calling for global cuts in carbon emissions.

An adviser to the president told the BBC the dive was "a bit of fun" but the cabinet intended to send a serious message about rising sea levels.

The low-lying island nation says it faces being wiped out if oceans rise.

The adviser, who asked not to be named, said ministers would communicate during the meeting using hand signals and waterproof boards and pens.

"Obviously the hand signals that divers can use are limited, so the amount of work the cabinet are going to get done will be limited," he said.

"But they will call on all nations - rich and poor, developed and developing - to take climate change seriously."

All cabinet members bar one - who has a medical condition that rules out diving - have been in training at a military base on one of the country's many islands.

Mr Nasheed, who is already a qualified diver, will also hold a press conference in the water.

While underwater, the government will sign a document ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, calling on all nations to cut down their carbon emissions.

World leaders at the summit are aiming to create a new agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

'Friendly' sharks

The dive is being held to mark the 350 International Day of Climate Change Action on 24 October.

The day's organisers say they want to highlight the risks of rising carbon in the atmosphere and encourage world leaders to commit to reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million.

That is the amount some scientists say is the safe upper limit to avoid irreparable damage to the environment.

Some 80% of the Maldives archipelago is less than a metre above sea level and is extremely vulnerable to any rise in sea levels as a result of global warming melting the polar ice caps.

Officials say that by the time the Maldives feels the full effect of climate change, it will be too late to save other countries.

Mr Nasheed has warned that the entire nation may have to find a new home if the oceans rise as predicted by the UN.

The president's adviser told the BBC that although the country's government was almost all going to be underwater at the same time, there was no real danger.

Each minister will be accompanied by a diving instructor and a military minder and the local sharks were "friendly", he said.

and

by Olivia Lang

Maldives leader in climate change stunt

With fish darting amongst them in a blue lagoon, the Maldivian president and his top team have staged an elaborate stunt to publicise climate change.

Billed as the world's first underwater cabinet meeting, President Mohamed Nasheed and 11 ministers, decked in scuba gear, held a meeting 4m (13ft) underwater.

While officials said the event itself was light-hearted, the idea is to focus on the plight of the Maldives, where rising sea levels threaten to make the nation uninhabitable by the end of the century.

Mr Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected president, has become an important global voice for climate change since he won in polls last October.

"We have to get the message across through a course of action which resonates with ordinary people," the president said, as the boat neared our destination."What we are trying to tell the people is that we hope there is a better deal at Copenhagen."

The presidential speedboat took 20 minutes to arrive in the turquoise lagoon off Girifushi, in North Male atoll.

The cabinet then zipped themselves into diving suits and donned goggles and tanks of compressed air before jumping in the water.

Major Ahmed Ghiyaz, the co-ordinator from the Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF), said all measures had been taken to protect the president, which included checking the coral for dangerous creatures.

"I am 99.9% sure there will be no harmful creatures," he told the BBC before the dive.

"I'm sure there won't be any sharks. The nastiest thing would be a moray eel, but we have checked the reef".

A horseshoe-shaped table was set up around a dark green coral reef with blue tips and home to an array of sea creatures in one of the world's most famed diving spots.

The president and his team took their seats at 1000 at the bottom of the lagoon, sitting at desks with name tags while colourful parrot fish and black and white damsel fish darted around them.

Using hand signals to gesture that they were OK, ministers then passed round an "SOS" to be signed - an agreement calling for carbon emission cuts.

"We must unite in a global effort to halt further temperature rises," the message reads.

"Climate change is happening and it threatens the rights and security of everyone on Earth."

Meanwhile, a handful of journalists kitted out in snorkel gear and swimming around on the surface tried to get a glimpse of the action below.

Emerging out of the water, a dripping President Nasheed removed his mask to answer questions from reporters and photographers crowded around on the shore.

"We are trying to send a message to the world about what is happening and what would happen to the Maldives if climate change isn't checked," he said, bobbing around in the water with his team of ministers.

"If the Maldives is not saved, today we do not feel there is much chance for the rest of the world."

Curry and coconuts

After the dive, the president told the BBC he had seen a stingray swim nearby during the meeting.

"There was a sergeant fish that was particularly interested in what was going on," he said during a typically Maldivian lunch of fish curry and coconut juice.

"I've never been worried about reef sharks and I've been diving for a long time," the 42-year-old added.

He says other Maldivians had heard about the event and wanted to get involved in some way.

On the island of Kuda Huvadhoo, some islanders reportedly created a sealed box and put their TV in it so they could watch the footage of the meeting underwater.

"They told me, 'if the president is under water, then they want to be too'," Mr Nasheed said.

But he was keen to push the need for action.

The 1192-island chain is at severe threat from rising sea levels, with 80% of its islands less than a metre above sea level.

"What do we hope to achieve? We hope not to die. I hope I can live in the Maldives and raise my grandchildren here," says Mr Nasheed.