Alexandra Bennett
Upon arrival at our first day of COP25 (although heading into the second week of COP overall) we were thrown into an enormous conference hall full of party delegates, side events, panels, and pavilions. The sheer vastness of the events, people, and commotion was as overwhelming and exhilarating as all the COP veterans had warned. After registering, I spent the first hour or two wandering around the country delegation booths, non-state actor pavilions, and side event rooms attempting to get my bearings. The morning briefing held by the Business & Industry NGO affiliation (BINGO) helped orient me towards the progress made in Week 1 (largely focused on Article 6) and led me to attend some high-level private sector engagement panels. The afternoon was spent in a haze of jet lag searching for free coffee, but finished strong with a one-year update on the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action that launched at COP24. Overall, the first day was a successful acclimation to the world of COP. Tomorrow, I hope to attend some of the official negotiations on Article 6 open to the public whereas today I focused on pavilion discussions and side events.
Marie McNamara
I now have my first day of COP under my belt, it was a great day indeed a lot to take in, but it was a great learning opportunity. This morning I took some time to get my bearings but then was off. I spent the morning helping WRI take notes at the Facilitative Sharing of Views. The Views that I heard today were from Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Chile, India, and Malaysia; each country had a chance to share their progress as they work to submit more ambitious NDCs. The objective was transparency, and the focus was for developing countries to share and receive feedback on their climate action progress. Each of the six developing countries had an allotted time to present their Biannual Updated Reports (BUR), and national agenda, any country that chose to attend then had the opportunity to ask questions.
Sebastián Piñera opened the session applauding the presenting developing nations for going above and beyond. She stressed urgency in her opening remarks, stating that the window for action is closing fast, and the fact that these countries took the initiative to establish a BUR was a step in the right direction. The sessions were very engaging; each state was visibly proud of the efforts that they had put forward and the progress they had achieved. I primarily spent the rest of the day walking around the venue, attending various side events in an attempt to try to get a lay of the land. Overall it was a great day; I feel like I have a better grasp of what is going one and am ready to take full advantage of everything tomorrow to “hit the ground running.”
Riley Pfaff
When we entered IFEMA this morning for our first day at the COP, we walked the length of the convention center to check our coats in the very rear of the building. As we passed through the different halls, I almost couldn’t believe just how enormous this event is. There are two plenary halls, a pair of press conference rooms, 27 meeting rooms, 36 rotative exhibit spaces and more, every room packed with people and the largest amount of compost and recycling bins I’ve ever seen.
By the time we had checked our coats and returned to the conference area, the place was already bustling half an hour before most meetings were scheduled to begin. Seeking something familiar amidst the hectic sea of people streaming into pavilions, meeting rooms, side events and negotiating sessions, I headed for the U.S. Climate Action Center. Many countries have large pavilions sponsored by their respective governments, but the U.S., which formally began its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement last month, is represented instead at this exhibit sponsored by the We Are Still In Movement. This movement is a coalition of mayors, governors and business leaders who have committed to doing their part to uphold their commitment to the Paris Agreement. The first panel they held this morning focused on how cities and local governments around the world are combating climate change.
In addition to that event, other highlights of the day include our class’s talk with Dan Bodansky, a law professor at Arizona State, and Joe Aldy, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, about their experiences working at previous COPs as members of the U.S delegation. I also attended a panel with environmental ministers from Finland and Norway about a new declaration signed in Helsinki last January that states the intent of Nordic countries to increase the ambition of their NDCs. And in my favorite event of the day, I was able to listen to representatives from the tiny island nation of Niue in the South Pacific describe their strategies for managing fisheries and balancing commercial fishing with tourism interests, as well as combating climate change. I am so excited to return tomorrow with a better feel for where things are, especially the free food and coffee, and hopefully sit in on some negotiations in addition to more side events.
Suzanne Mullins
Whew, what can I say? Today was very long and busy—but also very interesting and fun! After checking in at 8am, I met my client—members of the Center for Clean Air Policy—at the Chilean Pavilion. From there, I rapidly got thrown into everything. One minute I was checking my coat, and the next, I was sitting next to Ricardo Lagos, the former president of Chile. Despite moving COP from Santiago to Madrid, Chile is still technically the host, and they had a lot to say. I served as timekeeper for the panel with the former president and other representatives from funding-related groups, meaning I had a front row seat for the conversation! They talked about the best means of allocating resources, investing in infrastructure in a way that helps consumers, and discrepancies that currently exist in terms of who has a voice at the table.
I also aided in setting up the stage for various panels at the first ever meeting of Finance Ministers. This Coalition of Finance Ministers has created a new “Santiago Action Plan” which endorses the Helsinki Principles and Paris. The plan focuses on (1) a just transition, (2) building up capacities and expertise, (3) preparing toolkits and knowledge around carbon pricing, and more. The session had many amazing speakers; however, I particularly enjoyed hearing from Patrica Espinosa, the secretary of the COP.
One of the most interesting thoughts of the day came from Yannick Glemarec, the exective director for the Green Climate Fund. He went on to discuss details surrounding an issue I’m quite familiar with—the risks-rewards and equity issues surrounding climate change. Glemarec emphasized the importance and need for larger states to boost the efforts of smaller ones in order to see sufficient progress. He noted that many extremely worthwhile projects in the global south never see the light of day because they are not perfect in terms of risk reward. Glemarec then brought up that point that always bothers me when it comes from those dragging their feet on climate—it’s going to cost us more money in the future if we don’t act now. We must work on de-risking—that is, helping smaller countries remove some risk of investment (or make it overall easier to invest) rather than subsidizing. There are a lot of worthwhile efforts out there—they just need some support.
I can’t wait to hear more in this vein (and others) as COP continues this week!
Grace Chan
The first day of COP25 was very exciting; I hadn’t realized that there would be so many things to do and see. I was only able to visit a few of the countries’ pavilions today, including Thailand and France, but I am excited to be able to explore more in the coming days and attend some of the sessions each of the countries hold. In addition, I would like to attend at least one of the negotiations to see how delegations interact and how issues are addressed. The side events I attended were interesting and just scratched the surface of what the COP has to offer.
One thing that kept being mentioned today was the slogan of the COP- “#TimeForAction.” It can be seen everywhere throughout the venue- on fliers, within the decor and slipped into panel discussions. The rising pressure for Parties and industries to make changes was an overarching component to many of the events I attended. I could almost sense a rising anxiety over the approaching turning points of 2030 and 2050. However, during a session on decarbonization, the phrase “fragile victory” was brought up in the context of decarbonization needing to occur at approximately 3% per year until 2050 to achieve less than 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. The “fragile victory” referred to the fact that approximately 4 years ago, we had achieved this 3% of decarbonization in one year. However, due to transitions in political leadership (like in the U.S. and Brazil) and changes in international funding, that 3% decarbonization has been cut in half. The good point of this story is that we were able to achieve that 3% without major leaps in innovation or life-altering policy changes; that decarbonization is achievable at a rate that the world needs. I hope this story will be analogous to the issues learned here at COP25 – though things seem impossible, there is always that “fragile victory” waiting to resurface.
