1 The Copenhagen summit aims to limit average global temperature rises to no more than 2C by stabilising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide at or below 450 parts per million. With no action, they will rise by 6C by 2100.
2 To achieve this, global greenhouse gas emissions will need to fall from their present level of around 47 billion tonnes per year to below 20 billion tonnes in 2050. To set the world on such a pathway, Sir Nicholas Stern has suggested total emissions need to be at 35 billion tonnes by 2030 and about 44 billion tonnes by 2020. To put this in context, over the past ten years, global carbon dioxide emissions have risen by almost 30 per cent.
3 The real wrangling at Copenhagen will be over how to carve up this “carbon budget” between different countries.
4 China has now outstripped America as the world’s biggest emitter, with about 21 per cent of the total. However, it will not agree to outright cuts but merely the “carbon intensity” of its economy.
5 About 100 of the world’s poorest countries produce just 3 per cent of emissions.
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6 More than 90 world leaders are expected to attend, most of them in the second week starting December 14, although President Obama is coming a week earlier earlier, on December 9.
7 The average British citizen emits 9.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, compared with about 20 tonnes for the average American.
8 About one fifth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation. The Copenhagen conference will discuss a mechanism known as REDD, or Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, aimed at paying tropical countries to keep their forests standing.
9 Another element is an agreement to provide financial support for developing countries to adapt to the extremes of climate change.
10 SInce 1990 the UK has experienced nine of the 10 warmest years on record.