Hello from Copenhagen! I have made it to the Bella Center where the COP 15 is taking place. Registration went smoothly and after a long day of traveling I was finally able to check out the conference. The atmosphere is very energetic and the conference seems to have taken over the city.

One interesting aspect to keep an eye on over the coming week and a half will be the costs of an international agreement on climate change. An article on nytimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/science/earth/09cost.html?_r=1&hp) states that a climate deal would likely cost trillions of dollars over the coming decades. The International Energy Agency estimates that such an agreement would cost over $10 trillion in energy infrastructure alone from 2010 to 2030. I believe the issue of cost will be of importance during the discussions here in Copenhagen and will become an area of intense discussion next week as conference’s discussions start to shift towards creating an international road map for combating climate change. Already in my first half-day at the conference I have noticed a large presence of talks and side events devoted to financial costs, including discussions on the financing of emission controls. I hope this will be of interest to many of you reading (especially you Matt in Ann Arbor)!

Written by KEVIN REED.