Week 2 of COP23 kicked off with a fresh group of Duke students in attendance. The first day of is typically spent figuring out logistics and getting familiar with the layout of the conference center.  The students were able to easily navigate to the COP and quickly found themselves in a variety of different side events and negotiating sessions throughout the day. Here are their first day updates:

Mike

My first day at COP23 was a whirlwind. After arriving and grabbing a bite to eat, I met with my client, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, to help plan a press conference and side event for later this week. Next, I joined my fellow classmates at a US Climate Alliance event, featuring Governors Jerry Brown (California), Kate Brown (Oregon), Terry McAuliffe (Virginia), and Jay Inslee (Washington), as well as former-Governor Schwarzenegger. Their panel was particularly lively, and much of the discussion focused on the actions they are taking at the sub-national level despite the Trump Administration’s intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. The rest of my day was spent sitting in on side events and exploring the country pavilions. At the end of the evening, just as we were about to Skype with our classmates back at Duke, a group of young activists began to protest the US delegation’s lone side event, focused on advanced fossil fuel technology. It drew a lot of attention, and I’m sure I’ll be reading about it in the news tomorrow.

Tim

My ride to COP23 this morning on the local metro was one of anticipation and vague expectations about what I would encounter. Many of the other riders were sporting the blue UNFCCC-emblazoned lanyards from which hung their various accreditations and country affiliations, and as I eyed my fellow riders, I was struck by their diversity and age range. The COP is a massive international conference, and attracts delegates and representatives from every country on Earth, as well as countless NGOs, businesses, and schools. My ride was somewhat slow, and I’m beginning to think Europe’s reputation for reliable public transportation may be somewhat misplaced. Once I, and several other COP attendees finally disembarked at our stop, I spent the next 12 hours wrapped up in meetings, conversations, and events that barely scratched the surface of the depth and breadth of topics covered at this conference. The two main events that I attended were focused on U.S. and North American sub-national climate leadership. In the morning, I attended an event where five U.S. Governors (I’ll defer to Mike’s post for a list of names) detailed how they, and their States, are leading the charge on filling the void in U.S. leadership left by our federal government’s abdication of responsibility. In the afternoon, I attended a panel discussion where two Canadian legislators (Chris Ballard and George Heyman), a Mexican politician (Rodolfo Lacy Tamayo), and briefly California Governor Jerry Brown, discussed sub-national strategies in North America for meeting the goals set forth in the Paris Agreement. In between these morning and afternoon sessions, my day was filled with attending other events focused on sub-national climate leadership, networking with attendees and delegates, and hunting for free food amidst the various national pavilions and booths. Their words and visions of the speakers I saw, as well as the people I spoke to, set the tone for what I can only imagine will be a bustling remaining four days. Thankfully, the German pavilion serves free coffee.

Sarah

Today was my first day and much of the day was spent getting my feet under me.  My client organization is the Climate Registry, a nonprofit that is working in conjunction with the Climate Action Reserve and Georgetown Climate Center to host a delegation of North American sub-national officials.  Today I attended and took notes for two events: Filling the Void: U.S State Driven Climate Leadership and Sub-National Strategies in North America for Meeting the Paris Commitment.  Two of my favorite speakers were Governor Jerry Brown and former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Both focused on the importance of technology in combating climate change, as well as the need to highlight the health risks that emerge from climate change as a way to engage citizens.  I’m excited to hear about other strategies sub-national officials are employing as the week continues.

Cathin

I had an early morning today, in order to attend the 8:30am daily meeting with my client, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). I worked with the ecosystem-based adaptation(EbA) team, and attended Global Climate Action’s High-level engagement on Finance Day- Unblocking Investment into Climate Resilience roundtable event. The session was divided into several questions, trying to discuss climate resilience investment from the perspectives of private investment, public finance, and role of government. Another side event I attended today was Carbon Market in China. Though I expected more insights from government, it has brought a lot of private sectors, from real estate, to consulting, and technology corporations to talk about their plans for carbon reduction. An interesting statement was made by DiDi, the Chinese version of Uber, but it has actually became the largest mobile transportation platform in the world in 5 years. They stated their ambition to establish the largest operating network of electric vehicles, and they expected to have one million electric vehicles on road by 2020. I walked around the exhibitions during the rest of the day, and had great fun talking with people from different countries and different sectors.