Ahead of Copenhagen Talks, Tens of Thousands Protest Across Europe Calling for Climate Justice

Monday, December 7, 2009 :Democracy Now! broadcasts live from Copenhagen from inside the Bella Center, where thousands of delegates from over 190 countries are gathering for the largest climate summit in history. Over the next two weeks, 100 world leaders are expected to attend the UN conference that has been described by some scientists as the most important the world has ever seen. We play highlights from the opening ceremony with the mayor of Copenhagen, Ritt Bjerregaard; Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, speaking on Sunday.

We’re broadcasting from Copenhagen, from inside the Bella Center where thousands of delegates from over 190 countries are gathering for the largest climate summit in history. Over the next two weeks, 100 world leaders are expected to attend the UN conference that has been described by some scientists as the most important the world has ever seen.

To stress the significance of the summit, 56 newspapers in 45 countries are taking the unprecedented step of publishing the same editorial today. The editorial reads, “Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security…Climate change has been caused over centuries, has consequences that will endure for all time and our prospects of taming it will be determined in the next 14 days.”

Environmentalists have warned that current greenhouse gas emissions commitments are dangerously short of what UN scientists have said are needed to keep average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Centigrade. But even before the conference began, the hopes of reaching a binding agreement on emissions were abandoned. UN negotiators have said they are looking to achieve an interim pact in Copenhagen with more negotiations for a possible binding agreement next year.

Today is the opening day of the summit and Democracy Now is the only daily global TV and radio newshour broadcasting from inside the Bella Center for the next two weeks. We will be bringing you coverage from inside the conference, with delegates and organizers, and from outside on the streets where thousands of activists are converging to call for real solutions to combat global warming. As one sign outside said: “Politicians talk. Leaders act.”

The summit opened this morning with a welcoming ceremony. We play highlights.

Ritt Bjerregaard, mayor of Copenhagen.

Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Related Links

• COP15 website

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