Opening Ceremony

Stong language representing the urgency of this conference to produce a legal-binding, progressive, visionary and comprehenisve treaty were repleat throughout the statements made at the opening ceremonies. At this conference, Copenhagen has done a lot to ensure that it is as green as it can be. One of the great things is there is no bottled water - just water fountains from the tap. There are bins to compost and any cups, plates, etc. used are compostable. 2/3 of the food served here is organic and they cut back on the gifts that i guess they usually give delegates in order to fund 11 students to come to the conference as climate scholars.



The Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Lokke Rasmussen discussed how climate change knows no boundaries - and is a world problem needing a world solution. He emphasized the need for a strong & ambitious agreement with long-term solutiuons. He also talked of the importance of civil society in this process. The delegates will ultimately make the decisions, but it is the citizens of the world which will be affected by and are responsible for implementing them. He urged the delgates and other pariticipants to focus on what unites us rather than what divides in order to reach agreement during the difficult negotiation period.

the Mayor of Copenhagen - Ms. Ritt Bjerregaard discussed the transformation of City Center into Hopenhagen - the City of Hope. Copenhagen is looking to be the first carbon neutral capital by 2025, i believe.

The Chair of the IPCC (Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change), Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri reinterated that this is a historic meeting which must lead to action and discussed the science of climate change since the issuance of the 4th IPCC report before COP13 Bali.

The Executive Dir. of Climate Change for the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention in Climate Change), Mr. Yvo de Boer spoke in an analogy of a "layer cake" of action where the bottom layer is implementation, the next layer is ambitious reductions and the last - the icing - is the shared vision and long-term goals (that analogy has be referenced and satatized since). He also spoke with the urgency and timing to come up with a "package" for this treaty - there are basically 6 days before ministers arrive for negotiators to come up with language. Then the Ministers have 2 days. So, 8 days to create a treaty before world leaders come to sign. His take-home message though, was solidarity.

Lastly Ms. Connie Hedegaard, the newly elected President of COP15 (yay for the ladies!) made the poignant statement that "political will has never been stronger"

with that the 15th Conference of the Parties commenced...