Copenhagen agenda: emissions, carbon markets and a UN grilling on CDM

Your guide on what to look out for at the Copenhagen summitB

Today is the first day of detailed negotiations at the UN Climate talks in Copenhagen after yesterday's statements. They are conducted on two parallel tracks: one group of countries will discuss emissions cuts, land use, forestry and the potential of carbon markets to provide the money for poor countries to adapt. Another group will grapple with finance and technology.
Among the closed plenary sessions for arcane committees such as the subsidiary body for scientific and technological advice (SBSTA) - which advises the countries attending on climate and technology - and the subsidiary body for implementation (SBI) - which helps review how the convention is being applied and deals with financial and administrative matters - today's highlights from the meetings schedule include the World Bank's report on clean development mechanism, and later a UN question and answer session on the effectiveness of the CDM in reducing emissions.
Non-governmental groups say that it is imperative to close loopholes in the forestry text, and are deeply concerned about carbon markets. They will be lobbying delegates to get the best possible deal on finance, and commitments to cut emissions.
Behind the scenes, China, and a group of other countries are preparing a draft text which will be discussed informally by countries and could possibly be adopted as the base of a final agreement next week. However, the host country Denmark, along with the UN secretariat, is also preparing a draft text that is more likely to be presented to world leaders when they arrive next week.
A bit on the side meetings…08.00-18.00 - Voices from China: Greenpeace China will display video appeals from Chinese citizens calling for a deal in Copenhagen.
13.00 - Side event on international bunker fuels: A panel will analyse how aviation and shipping may be regulated in the post-2012 regime.
13.00 - IPCC information and activities: Highlights of IPCC fourth assessment report as well as the outlook towards the fifth assesement report.
14.00 - Green Belt Movement at Climate Change Kiosk: Community-based environmental projects with Nobel Laureate, Professor Wangari Maathai .
14.30 - High-level briefing to youth on expectations for COP 15: With Michael Zammit-Cutajar, AWG-LCA Chair, and John Ashe, AWG-KP Chair.
18.15 - CDM Executive Board Q&As: The Executive Board of the CDM will report on its activities and answer questions from the audience.