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Brazil,South Africa,India and China on Tuesday came out with a joint statement,lamenting the lack of progress on the negotiations and protesting derailment of Bali Action Plan....

Joint statement by BASIC countries

Brazil,South Africa,India and China on Tuesday came out with a joint statement,lamenting the lack of progress on the negotiations and protesting derailment of Bali Action Plan. Ministers from the four countries gathered for the first formal event of the grouping in the afternoon to express their solidarity. BASIC group is a basic reality and we will resist in a united manner any manipulations or attempts to hijack the mandate of Copenhagen or give a new meaning to the Copenhagen meeting or weaken the troika of UNFCCC,Kyoto Protocol and Bali Action Plan. We are coordinating our positions on an hourly basis, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

Compromise is the key,says Connie

AT the formal launch of the high-level segment of the conference,its president Connie Hedegaard said the CoP15 was doomed to failure if urgent action was not taken to break the deadlock. Success is within reach but as the president of CoP15,I must warn you that we can fail. If we are going to make it,and we are because we must,we must change gears. We cant risk failure. The key word is,for the next two days,there must be a compromise, she told the delegates. Her statement comes in the light of two days of stalemate.

Arnie comes calling,delivers a pep talk

CALIFORNIA governor Arnold Schwarzenegger became one of the first big global celebrities to speak at the climate conference here. He talked about the efforts being made in his state to deal with climate change. The former Hollywood superstar said even if the Copenhagen meeting failed to deliver a comprehensive outcome,countries around the world must take action on climate change at a sub-national level. Considering the popularity of Schwarzenegger,the organisers had to limit the attendance at the event by distributing entry tickets on a first-come-first-served basis.

US commitments better than most

FACING criticism on the modest 17 per cent reduction targets announced by the US for the year 2020 on 2005 levels,US special envoy on climate change Todd Stern on Tuesday came out with statistics to argue that the numbers put forward by his country were comparable,even better than what the other developed countries had done. He said there was nothing sacrosanct about 1990 being the base level for measuring emission reductions and went on to argue that the reduction target put forward by the US would increase rapidly with time.

Burning midnight oil to salvage Summit

THOUGH chances of an agreement coming out of Copenhagen have dimmed considerably in the past two days,the negotiating teams have been working longer than ever before. The Indian negotiating team,including Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh,was at the conference venue well past midnight on Monday. The late night confabulations are expected to continue and also over the next couple of days in the hope of some draft text,however weak,that can be presented to the heads of states.