COP15 Day 10: 'Prove us wrong or stand down,' Kerry says

Editor’s note: Greenbang will be providing daily dispatches and ongoing updates from the climate change talks in Copenhagen, and is covering the conference virtually to keep our carbon footprint low.

Following are developments from today’s events at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:

• The US and five other nations — the UK, France, Norway, Japan and Australia — are pledging $3.5 billion over the next three years to protect rainforests in developing countries.
• Speaking to delegates in Copenhagen today, US Sen. John Kerry said, “Frankly, those who look for any excuse to continue challenging the science have a fundamental responsibility which they have never fulfilled:  Prove us wrong or stand down.   Prove that the pollution we put in the atmosphere is not having the harmful effect we know it is. Tell us where the gases go and what they do.  Pony up one single, cogent, legitimate, scholarly analysis.  Prove that the ocean isn’t actually rising; prove that the ice caps aren’t melting, that deserts aren’t expanding. And prove that human beings have nothing to do with any of it. And by the way — good luck!”
• UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said talks today came to an “unexpected stop” as negotiators said they needed more time to address “a number of unsolved issues.”
• Some 30 young people staged a sit-in at the climate talks to call attention to the 11 million people who have signed TckTckTck’s petition for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty on global warming. Sen. Kerry reportedly shook each protester’s hand and thanked each one even as security people were coming in to drag the demonstrators away.
• Meanwhile, in Canada, protestors also occupied a local office of Prime Minister Steven Harper to demand that he take action on climate change or resign.
• The head of the Convention on Biological Diversity told Reuters that the goal of limiting global warming to no more than 2 degrees C will “lead to the disappearance of 20 per cent of known species.”
• 350.org today apparently tried to hand out one of its “350” ties to Bolivian President Evo Morales “but he doesn’t wear ties because they’re too capitalist.”