Three Virginia Tech students are to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark from Dec. 6-18.
Miranda Peterson, Angie de Soto and Lyndsay McKeever, were among the three selected to attend the conference from Tech.
There will be 10,000 sustainability activists from nongovernmental organizations present at the conference, 5,000 journalists, and world leaders and delegates from 192 countries worldwide, including President Obama and China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
Earlier, the U.N.’s climate chief told reporters the “time is up” for governments to deliver rapid action on climate change, on the eve of the global summit.
U.N. Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer’s remarks came less than 24 hours before the Monday opening of the climate conference.
De Boer said governments must agree to quick, immediate actions as well as longer-term emission limit schemes and funding commitments.
He also spoke of the need for fast-track aid to help poorer countries limit current and future carbon emissions.
“In short-term financing, I think we need 10 billion for 2010 and 10 billion for 2011 and 10 billion for 2012. That’s in prompt-start financing,” de Boer told the press conference.
“Clearly, though, over time, by 2020 or 2030, we are going to need more significant sums, in the hundreds of billions of dollars, to deal with both mitigation and adaption.
But the first priority for me at the moment is prompt-start financing to deal with urgent needs.”
Of the scheduled Dec. 18 arrival of President Barack Obama in Copenhagen, de Boer said: “I’m happy he is coming toward the end of the conference. I hope that, as part of the negotiating process, he comes with ambitious American targets and strong financial support to reach out to developing countries.”
“Almost every day now countries announce new plans to cut or limit emissions. Never before in 17 years of climate change negotiations have so many different nations made so many firm pledges together,” said de Boer.
ct staff writer katie robidoux
contributed to this report
