COP15 and YouTube are collaborating to share highlights from each day of the conference:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBFhlstAiFUThe entire video archive is available here:http://www8.cop15.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop…In short, here’s why the negotiations have been complicated. It’s a multilingual, multi-cultural, multi-national, multi-party problem. More than a 100 world leaders will converge to Copenhagen in the next 3 days. If each had 5 minutes to speak, that schedule would spill over to 2 days. Also, not all nations are represented equally there. Some nations are richer than others (e.g. G8). Some nations pollute more than others. For instance, the world coal production in 2006 is 6.8 billion metric tons. China is the largest consumer of coal at 38% while US is the second largest consumer at 16%. Some nations are affected by GHG (greenhouse gas) more than others. For instance, one nation may have more climate immigrants than others when sea water rises onshore. This lead to the internal struggle between the moral case and the business case in a recession with higher unemployment rate and lower disposable income and purchase power domestically and abroad.If each of the 100 nations had only to choose between 2 options (e.g. to commit to a certain doctrine or not), there would be 2^100 possible outcomes, a number bigger than most calculators could display in full. This puts the possible outcome in the realm of Games Theory, a branch of applied mathematics that is used in the social sciences.In other words, it’s a complicated issue with too many parameters to count. The buzz now in Copenhagen is whether there will be a legal (signed) outcome or a political (verbal) agreement.For me, there is one parameter I am following – will U.S. go further than symbolic gesture and ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol – something that as of November 2009, more than 150 nations have signed and ratified. The U.S. is a signatory of UNFCCC and is responsible for more than 30% of the 1990 emission levels. China is a separate conversation.

COP15 and YouTube are collaborating to share highlights from each day of the conference:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBFhlstAiFUThe entire video archive is available here:http://www8.cop15.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop…In short, here's why the negotiations have been complicated. It's a multilingual, multi-cultural, multi-national, multi-party problem. More than a 100 world leaders will converge to Copenhagen in the next 3 days. If each had 5 minutes to speak, that schedule would fill up the whole day. However, not all nations are represented equally there. Some nations are richer than others (e.g. G8). Some nations pollute more than others. For instance, the world coal production in 2006 is 6.8 billion metric tons. China is the largest consumer of coal at 38% while US is the second largest consumer at 16%. Some nations are affected by GHG (greenhouse gas) more than others. For instance, one nation may have climate immigrants than others when sea water rises. This lead to the internal struggle between the moral case and the business case in a recession with higher unemployment rate domestically and abroad.If each of the 100 nations had only to choose between 2 options (e.g. to commit to a certain doctrine or not), there would be 2^100 possible outcomes, a number bigger than most calculators could display in full. This puts the possible outcome in the realm of Games Theory, a branch of applied mathematics that is used in the social sciences.In other words, it's a complicated issue with too many parameters to count. The buzz now in Copenhagen is whether there will be a legal (signed) outcome or a political (verbal) agreement.For me, there is one parameter I am watching – will U.S. go further than symbolic gesture and ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, something that as of November 2009, more than 150 nations have signed and ratified. The U.S. is a signatory of UNFCCC and is responsible for more than 30% of the 1990 emission levels. China is a separate conversation.

COP15 and YouTube are collaborating to share highlights from each day of the conference:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBFhlstAiFUThe entire video archive is available here:http://www8.cop15.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop…In short, here's why the negotiations have been complicated. It's a multilingual, multi-cultural, multi-national, multi-party problem. More than a 100 world leaders will converge to Copenhagen in the next 3 days. If each had 5 minutes to speak, that schedule would spill over to 2 days. Also, not all nations are represented equally there. Some nations are richer than others (e.g. G8). Some nations pollute more than others. For instance, the world coal production in 2006 is 6.8 billion metric tons. China is the largest consumer of coal at 38% while US is the second largest consumer at 16%. Some nations are affected by GHG (greenhouse gas) more than others. For instance, one nation may have more climate immigrants than others when sea water rises onshore. This lead to the internal struggle between the moral case and the business case in a recession with higher unemployment rate and lower disposable income and purchase power domestically and abroad.If each of the 100 nations had only to choose between 2 options (e.g. to commit to a certain doctrine or not), there would be 2^100 possible outcomes, a number bigger than most calculators could display in full. This puts the possible outcome in the realm of Games Theory, a branch of applied mathematics that is used in the social sciences.In other words, it's a complicated issue with too many parameters to count. The buzz now in Copenhagen is whether there will be a legal (signed) outcome or a political (verbal) agreement.For me, there is one parameter I am following – will U.S. go further than symbolic gesture and ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol – something that as of November 2009, more than 150 nations have signed and ratified. The U.S. is a signatory of UNFCCC and is responsible for more than 30% of the 1990 emission levels. China is a separate conversation.