Day Four at the UN-sponsored climate change talks saw activists getting more vocal and the various parties fortifying their negotiating positions.

On the latter theme, activists from Greenpeace climbed down from a coal-belching smokestack in order to set up a protest camp at the talks and publicized its report on shifting the global energy regime to renewable sources.

A Swiss activist rolled into Poznan on a solar-powered taxi after driving 50,000 miles around the world. UN climate change chief, Yvo de Boer got to ride the last kilometer with Louis Palmer, the activist.

On the negotiation front, more discussion was held on how to finance an adaptation fund that will provide less developed countries financing to address climate change-induced policy problems.  An adaptation fund was initially set up under the Kyoto Protocol and has been financed by a 2% levy placed on offset projects financed by industrialized countries to meet their Kyoto emissions targets.

The problem with the adaptation fund is that it hasn't raised enough revenue. 

There was also controversy regarding the expansion of offset project schemes.  Many activists are skeptical of these schemes called in UN jargon, Clean Development Mechanisms.  The worry is that too liberal of a CDM scheme will likely result in industrialized countries choosing not to mitigate their own emissions and opt out for purchasing credits in the less developed world.  Today Brazil rejected the idea of using CDMs in their country for forestry protection thinking that it would negatively impact their control over their own land. 

On mitigation, China amped up the rhetoric against the United States with China saying that President-elect Obama's plan to reduce US emissions to 1990 levels is not "ambitious enough." 

Finally, groups representing indigenous peoples are seeking some mechanism for participating in the talks.  Indigenous communities are often not adequately represented by their national governments and often directly bear the initial brunt of climate problems.  UN climate change chief, Yvo de Boer met with indigenous representatives today and expressed sympathy for their cause.