Author: Ryan Callihan (Page 1 of 2)

Mike 

Today was a probably the slowest day at COP23, for me. Our group met with one of the former head State Department negotiating team lawyers, Sue Biniaz, and UNFCCC negotiations scholar Dan Bodansky. It was interesting to hear Sue’s insights on the near catastrophic fate of the Paris Agreement, which came down to a single word (“shall” vs. “should”), in the context of the legally binding nature of nationally determined contributions. Afterwards, I attended a side event for my client that focused on financing climate mitigation and adaptation in Eastern and Southern Africa. The day ended on a high note, as I was invited to join my client for a meeting between the US Delegation and senior business leaders. Because the conversation was off the record, I can’t share much, but it was interesting to listen to the new Administration’s perspective on issues that we’ve both discussed in class and witnessed here at COP23.

Sarah

I was with Mike and the group to meet with the former State Department principal lawyer on the climate change negotiations, Sue Biniaz, and professor Dan Bodansky.  It was interesting to hear what they thought of subnational action at the COP. They agreed that the current question is whether subnational action is a blip or if (due to politics and other factors) it will continue to grow in importance in the next few years.

I next covered an event on subnational action and the ways in which the private sector is involved.  I think one of my key takeaways from the  discussion was how different every state has approached this, and one of the challenges states face now is making their approach accessible to other states.  

Finally, I attended a client dinner with the subnational delegation. It was one of my favorite parts of this COP because I could ask the delegates questions about their experiences and take-aways.

Tim

Things were winding down today. I attended the BINGO meeting in the morning in the hopes of connecting with a representative from a company that I’ll be working with as part of a class, but unfortunately he wasn’t at the meeting. Our class them met with Susan Biniaz and Dan Bodansky and got their perspective on how COP23 compares to the past COPs that they have attended and participated in. They classified COP23 as a ‘minor COP’, given the fact that the negotiations this year are largely in preparation of the 2018 facilitative dialogue. The rest of my day was spent at talks in the U.S. Climate Action Center, and many of them hit the same talking points that I’d already heard a number of times before: subnational actors in the U.S. are committed to climate action and remaining engaged in climate negotiations, and businesses and economies will be able to remain profitable and grow while decreasing their GHG emissions.

Laurel (Day 10):

Today was an oddly quiet day, only a handful of side events were going on in the Bonn Zone, but I spent the day in the Bula Zone-where the negotiations are taking place.There was a noticeable calm and quiet. Most working groups and informal consultations to the parties had concluded and many country representatives have left the conference already, leaving just a few (heads of delegations) at the COP. Groups have submitted their final draft documents which are then translated, proof-read and then published online at the unfccc website. The drafts however must be formally accepted into the final COP document.

This final acceptance happens at the Closing Plenary COP and CMP session led by the COP Presidency (Fijian Prime Minister), who went through the formal adoption and acceptance of these drafts, roughly: “Agenda Item XX, draft decision XX has been proposed, if there are no objections <pause> then it is decided”.

Because the last two weeks have been filled with negotiations within the working groups regarding specific articles, there were no objections to the drafts proposed. However, the items that still have not found consensus (including the APA) were ‘skipped over’, and negotiations continue. This is also another reason why there are fewer people walking from place-to-place as delegations are probably holed up in their country offices.

The COP plenary will resume sometime this evening, once agreements have been reached. However, as of 6pm nothing has appeared on the conference schedule. A NGO representative suggested this will realistically happen closer to 9 or 10pm, but wouldn’t be surprised if the waiting lasted even longer. It is not uncommon for the final draft documents to appear and subsequent final plenary to be held in the wee hours of Saturday morning…and so we wait.

Mike

Today was the Business Showcase at the US Climate Action Center. The day was filled with various panels and presentations from business leaders across several sectors, ranging from banks and investment groups (like Bank of America and JP Morgan) to retailers (like Microsoft and Target). These senior leaders came to COP23 to show their support for the emissions reductions targets that underpin the Paris Agreement. They also came to tout their progress in reaching their company’s own emission reductions milestones. One of my favorite panels was “Capital for Decarbonizing,” which featured executives from financial services companies discussing how to finance the transition to a low carbon future. One of the panelists, Val Smith, Citi Bank’s Global Head of Corporate Sustainability, discussed the company’s goal, launched in 2014, to mobilize $100 billion in environmental finance. They are making great progress so far–already having funded $53.5 billion in projects to date. They’re able to do this by using innovative strategies such as creating loan warehouses for energy efficiency or solar projects and then lumping them together to be securitized and sold to investors with less appetite for risk. The panel helped me learn more about the types of innovative financing mechanisms that are needed to help fund the low carbon future required to achieve ambitious emissions reductions and limit global temperature increases to below 2° C, as outlined in the Paris Agreement.

Tim

This morning, I attended a RINGO meeting with Mike. They had in-depth updates about yesterday’s sessions, as well as some tickets to the high-level segment of the negotiations that began today. They only had a limited number of tickets, so they had a lottery to determine which attendees of the RINGO meeting would get one. As luck would have it, the business card that I threw into the pile was one of the winners. Attending the actual negotiations was one of the things that I was most excited to do here at COP23, and getting a ticket to hear the heads of state speak was made me feel a bit like Charlie Bucket. I’ll have a full synopsis of the segment in my upcoming blog post, but for the time being, let’s just say it was cool.

Sarah

I attended a discussion on bipartisan American solutions to climate change, as well as one on how California and Germany could work together to generate business and policy solutions to climate change.  One of the most interesting points I found was discussed by a senior policy advisor, who spoke about the issue of making climate change a micro-issue (such as in a national security framework, so one that avoids the politically hot topic in certain states) to make sure policy change can still occur.  He said while this might ensure some action now, it avoids actually talking about the larger issue, climate change.   There is no easy answer to deciding how to address this problem, but I found it an interesting and valid point, especially as U.S. states decide if and how to engage other states in the US Climate Alliance.

Mike

For me, Day 2 of COP23 was Day 1 at the Bula Zone (where the formal UNFCCC negotiations occur, in addition to press and side events). It was interesting to witness the differences between the two Zones: while the Bonn Zone was a lively and colorful–with each country’s pavilion displaying their national pride–the Bula Zone was quiet and a little bit somber. That said, I still enjoyed my time at the Bula Zone, especially helping put on a press conference with my client, BCSE. The press conference was an opportunity for them to announce the release of their position paper, Powering Ambition at COP23. Featured speakers highlighted initiatives their companies are

 undertaking to reduce greenhouse gases and increase renewable energy generation. I heard a great statistic from Jeff Moe, Director of Energy Policy and Global Product Advocacy at Ingersoll Rand. He mentioned that they are working  to reduce their GHG emissions 50% by 2020, and they’re on track to achieve those goals. To date, they’ve saved 6.7 million tons of CO2e. He also suggested that if their competitors (6-8 companies) followed suit, that would reduce global GHG emissions by 4-8% . That might seem like a small number, but that’s just one industry–and only requires changes by less than 10 companies. That short anecdote reinforced the idea that, if we truly seek greenhouse gas reductions at a large scale, we have to engage the private sector to achieve significant results.

Tim

I spent the entirety of today in the U.S. Climate Action Center. The most notable event I attended was a discussion regarding State and subnational climate leadership in North America. It started with a conversation with Oregon Governor Kate Brown, in which she detailed how her use of executive orders, and the Oregon legislature, have helped to make Oregon a leader in climate action. This was the third time I’ve heard her speak at COP23, and each time she has reiterated that even though the current U.S. administration is rejecting the economy of the future, states are leading the way. She provided numerous details to support her assertion that Oregon is proving that we can tackle global climate change and grow our economy at the same time, and it was inspiring to hear about how a smaller state like Oregon is stepping up to the plate. Governor Brown’s interview was followed by a discussion with several other leaders from U.S. States and Canada, who reiterated her message and details of how sub-national actors in North America are collaborating to solve the challenges presented by climate change while maintaining and expanding their economies. The other sessions I attended in the U.S. Climate Action Center had a similar tone, which makes sense, given the emphasis on U.S. involvement by the United States Climate Alliance. I’ll likely be in the U.S. Climate Action Center for the better part of tomorrow, and I’m interested to see how the messaging by the various groups I hear speak will compare to what the political leaders have had to say.

Sarah

Today I attended side events at the Sustainable Innovation Forum, which focused on the interplay between private businesses and government initiatives.  The discussions ranged from sustainable planning to green bonds. One of my favorite panels focused on how data can enhance climate policy and solutions, but also comes with its own risks and considerations. Robert Kirkpatrick, Director of Global Pulse from the UN, predicted that big data was like nuclear energy–it will soon be regulated as carefully, because its capacity, while powerful, was also extremely dangerous.  I also helped my client at three panels, one at which Governor Kate Brown spoke, another with policy experts from Minnesota, California, British Columbia and Hawaii, and the final panel, in which policy experts from from Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York discussed how on a regional level they are collaborating to share best practices and develop sustainable policies.

Cathin

I spent most of my day 2 on resilience talks held by Global Climate Action, Marrakech Partnership. The morning event focused on SIDs and other vulnerable countries, that brought high-level representatives from public and private actors to discuss successes in increasing climate resilience of countries. The afternoon one was to discuss the success stories of nature-based solutions. One thing addressed in both talks is financing resilience. The mayor of Beira, Mozambique shared an impressive story in rehabilitating Chiveve river and associated green infrastructure around the city. Audiences and even co-speakers on the stage showed great interest in how he managed to allocate this large amount of fund in environment, while environment was usually not given priority in government spending. Besides that, he also shared experience in how to enforce large environmental engineering project, and persuade people to relocate. While during our study and research we focused more on theoretical experience, those practitioners gave me more insights on the real challenges and solutions that could be encountered in practice.

Shani

I spent my first day at COP 23 getting familiar with the Bonn Zone and what it had to offer. I was really impressed with how organized the COP seems overall and the Bonn Zone specifically. The amount of information available on just about every issue related to Climate Change was amazing. It was also interesting to see some of the issues we discussed in class come out in conversations. At the Pakistan side event, the representative provided a detailed rundown of their national climate action plan, but also  expressed to me several times that ‘although they were responsible for Climate Change, they were committed to addressing it’. It was also interesting to stumble on issues not addressed in class like the impact of climate change on the disabled communities and related issues like disaster preparedness.  

Laurel

I assisted my client, The Nature Conservancy, stay up to date on the Global Stocktake delegation discussions. The Global Stocktake is the five-yearly review of the climate change actions countries have taken, collectively (not as individual countries) as agreed upon in the Paris Accord. The first global stocktake assessment will be in 2023. Every country is required to participate in this action.

Held in the main chamber of the Bula zone, the G77 country bloc stood in the middle of the room, discussing with each other their position for 30 minutes, while the other countries waited in their seats. This is actually quite common, as the process of informal discussion is much faster than country by country. Once the session officially began, it lasted all but 20 minutes as the Philippines delegate, rep

resenting the G77 bloc of countries, mentioned their suggestions to the text, and the EU, and Solomon islands (representing the Least Developed Countries-LDC bloc) reiterated their support for the document. The Solomon Island representative also thanked the G77 for incorporating the LDCs considerations especially.

This, and other achievements on loss and damage earned the G77 group the “Ray of the Day Award” an informal award the Climate Action Network (CAN) began in Bonn in 1999. This award, given at the end of each day of the negotiations, is given to the entity (usually country) that has helped move the negotiations forward and been especially positive.

This is in contrast to the “Fossil of the Day award” given to the country that has slowed or stalled progress in the negotiations. Australia received this daily award for their ‘sense of disregard’ to loss and damage.

http://www.climatenetwork.org/fossil-of-the-day

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.

During one of the meetings we had while at the COP we were told that are two types of COPs: big COPs and little COPs. Since Copenhagen in 2011 all the COPs were more like big COPs in that they were focused on reaching a historic new agreement on how to deal with climate change that could be bought into by all countries. These culminated with the Paris Agreement last year; setting COP22 up as the first little COP in 5 years.

Marrakech, being a little COP, does not make it any less important than previous years, but it does mean there likely wouldn’t be a lot to talk about in terms of specific outcomes. The goal in Marrakech was to keep the momentum gained from the Paris Agreement going and to help build off it. That is why COP22 can be considered successful even though it wasn’t built up like previous COPs.

Countries established a strict timeline for getting work done on the implementation of the Paris Agreement by 2018. This timeline is much more ambitious then the pace that the UNFCCC usually works at. It also helps to ensure that the proper rules and guidelines are established early in the process. Countries will be able to take the global stock take and begin to create more ambitious NDCs without a further deal. These smaller milestones that got done during COP22 are things that can be pointed at to demonstrate its success.

It is well accepted that for global temperature increases to remain below 2 degrees Celsius the major GHG emitting countries must significantly increase the ambition of their NDCs. Keeping the international momentum going for increased national action on climate change mitigation is the best way to see the goals of the Paris Agreement met.

Looking back on the COP, after the brief period of shock after the US presidential election, there was a feeling of optimism that meaningful change was occurring. Attending the various side events and hearing countries official statements it was clear that the majority understand the pressing nature of the problem. The mood surrounding the end of the COP felt like there was a plan developing with clear momentum moving in the right direction despite what might happen at the US federal level domestically.