Author: Cai May Tan (Page 1 of 2)

Emma Hughes

This was our last of COP 25. The day was filled with side events, negotiations, and Greta Thunberg. It was exciting to see how the week ended up and how things began to ramp up for next week. You could tell that there was a time crunch to wrap up the negotiations planned for the week.

I think the most exciting part of the day were the Friday for Future protests and other climate protests. In my opinion, this brought many COP attendees out of a bubble. At least for me, it helped remind me of the main purpose of this week, to provide climate solutions in an equitable manner. It was refreshing to see new groups of people engage in the conference in a nontraditional manner. And, if we’re being honest, it was exciting to be in the same place as Greta. In my opinion, I think a major issue with the COP experience is the accessibility of the conference and the presence of public displays allows for some of these underrepresented groups to be involved in the discussions and possibly influencing the decision making processes.

Zukhruf Amjad

Melinda Melvin

Today was our last day at the COP and it was really sad to leave IFEMA for the last time at the end of the day. Today I attended a mixture of Article 6 negotiations and side events on other topics like renewable energy and REDD+, however the highlight of the day was probably seeing Greta Thunberg’s surprise visit to COP25 before heading to Madrid for the climate march that took place downtown. It was wild to see the commotion around her arrival. Walking up to the crowd I thought there was an event of some sort happening, but she was actually just standing there, no stage or speech. She was mobbed by the press and her fans but flanked by bodyguards/security and it was truly a scene. Once she started walking towards a meeting with other youth activists from Spain, an impromptu parade unlike I’ve ever seen began and the Greta-mania was palpable in the air. Later in the evening, around half a million people gathered in downtown Madrid to demand climate action and protest in solidarity with other marches around the world. We unfortunately were not able to make it but did see some participants later on the metro on our way back from the conference.

My last day of COP25 was eventful. I wanted to make the most out of the day even though I had only slept just a few hours the day before. I went to bed at 4 am and deceived myself that I would wake up on time to attend the coordination meeting for the African Group of Negotiators at 8:00 am. Guess what! my alarm rang at 6:30am and I woke up, got off the bed, took the phone from the desk, returned to bed and dozed away. Just like that my AGN coordination meeting attendance went down the drain. However, I made it to the venue just in time for my first responsibility of the day at 10:00 am, the negotiation session on SBSTA 51 agenda item 5. The rest of my last day at COP25 flew by very fast and it was the most exciting day of the week. Before I knew it, it was 8:00 pm and I was coming out of my last side event of the day and COP25. However, the most exciting part of the day was about to start. The fun time that I had with my classmates was one of my highlights of the experience. Thanks to all of them for being a great cohort to attend COP25 with and special thanks to our TAs Cai May and Corey for all their hard work to make this possible.

Pradnya Bhandari

Attendance at the COP is clearly ramping up as all the meetings, side events, pavilion events, and even hallways of the COP are becoming more and more crowded. As attendance grows, so does the chance for peaceful protests and I witnessed my first today. It was fascinating to see how many people felt so strongly about the actions of a private sector company. There is also a big protest planned for tomorrow that is met with support with protestors in Chile, parts of America, and even Durham. The frustration of these individuals is valid and their voices need to be heard and protesting provides an avenue for them to express these sentiments. Especially in the context of this COP and the sudden location change because of civil unrest, it is more important than ever to understand how climate change affects the daily lives of citizens around the world. When discussing large international agreements, these minute details can sometimes be lost and the protests ensure that human rights and quality of life are top of mind issues for negotiators. Public interest and desire for actionable climate change agreements is a key driver motivating delegators from all parties to work together to come to a decision on Article 6 and the Paris Agreement. While only four days of the COP has passed, there isn’t much time left for various parties to come to a consensus on the mechanisms through which the agreement will be achieved.

Forrest Robinette

Is this journal reflection 3 or 4? Is today Thursday or Monday? Where am I? Who am I?! The COP is such a wonderful but such a profoundly overwhelming experience that I don’t know if I’ve been here for five days or a month!

Today I got to see the next steps of the negotiations I have been “following” on Response Measures. At first, I thought I would be excluded since the meetings were listed as informal informals, or “inf infs” as the cool kids say (all the negotiations say that too). I had been told these meetings are closed to observers (i.e. me); however, my client gave me the pro tip that whether or not observers are allowed in is actually at the discretion of the chair. I asked, and she kindly let me in!

The negotiations for this topic still seem to be moving pretty slowly, given their deadline for a draft is this Saturday. I’ll be sad I can’t follow the developments next week.

Aside from Response Measures, I attended the RINGO, the research NGO morning briefing. Then I bopped into a number of side events and pavilion events that covered, among other things, indigenous voices in fair transition, SDG 8, youth advocacy in climate action, and carbon capture technologies.

Today, a classmate and I witnessed a protest at an event on private sector climate action. I just learned there is, essentially, a protest of the private sector pretty much every year at the COP. This issue is front and center in Article 6, which explores international carbon markets and private market mechanisms. For this blog, I’m not touching the issue of what role the private sector can and should play in climate action. I’ll let someone else get in trouble for that!

Emma Hughes

This was the fourth day of COP 25. This week has flown by and we only have one more day left of the conference and one more day left in Madrid. As the week has moved along, it seems that negotiations have become more technical by the minute. The side events I attend seem to focus on the voices not being brought to the table and the stakeholders not included in the decision-making. From what I can tell this problem of accessibility to the COP is exacerbated by the late change of venue from Santiago to Madrid. How are negotiators and parties supposed to be making decisions for people when they aren’t always a part of the conversation and when these groups are involved in the conversation, they aren’t always involved in the decision-making process. Now, I think over time this problem has been partially addressed and I’ve seen that comment made in many of the side events I attended. The most recent example would be from today on From the Boreal to the Arctic: Indigenous knowledge and leadership for climate mitigation and adaptation. But there is no mention of these stakeholder groups in the actual negotiations from what I can tell.

Over this semester and this week, I think I have begun to scratch the surface on the many procedures of the UNFCCC. That being said, I’m excited to see tomorrow how these processes interact and respond to the planned climate strike scheduled for tomorrow and the potential impacts it may have on negotiations.

Melinda Melvin

Today was an interesting and slightly slower day for me during which I got to attend some events unrelated to Article 6 and carbon markets. It was surprising to me that since Tuesday when negotiations started, almost no progress has been made on the technical issues of the guidance on Article 6. The Parties were noticeably disgruntled during the informal consultation today after a closed session had taken place in the morning, and only about 30 minutes of actual discussion of the text happened. The end of the negotiation devolved into numerous Points of Order as Parties objected to how the facilitators were running the negotiation sessions.

With very little happening on Article 6 (that was open to observers, at least), I took the chance to attend the Business and Industry Non-Governmental Orgs (BINGO) daily briefing and learned more about what the private sector was paying attention to at the COP. I also got to attend an event hosted by World Wildlife Fund on renewable energy development in Southeast Asia and learned more about the barriers and opportunities for renewable energy investment and deployment in the region. One of the more interesting events of the day, however, was a protest that took place during an event about private sector engagement in nature-based solutions. This launch event, which had speakers from Shell and other companies, was so crowded that I couldn’t get in the tiny room. Twenty minutes in, about 20 protesters put their hands over their ears and walked out of the meeting. This launched an internal debate about the philosophical merits and perils of nature-based solutions that I mulled over the rest of the evening.

While I was unable to get into the room, I was able to meet several interesting people outside who have worked in carbon markets, including an Italian energy executive who had been a technical negotiator in the early years of the COP and on the Kyoto Protocol mechanisms, and carbon market developers from Guatemala and Colombia. Overall, it was a good day of learning and engaging with those active in the field. I’m sad to think tomorrow is our last day!

Shakes Dlamini

Today I followed different side events of Energy transition for developing nations. It was interesting to hear the varied perspectives and challenges that developing countries in different regions face. For instance, quite a number of the developing countries in South East Asia still have a significant number of fossil-fueled power plants in the pipeline to energize the growth of their economies. However, it was interesting to learn that the deployment of renewable energies could be viable in these countries if the governments could redirect the funds that are being pumped into fossil fuels towards renewable energy. This point brought home the level of risk aversion that a lot of governments have towards renewable energies since hence they choose to finance traditional forms of power generation and expecting the private sector to advance their renewable energy mandate.

However, as a clean energy enthusiast, it was exciting to hear the different exciting developments in the energy sector such as new technologies being developed, innovative financing strategies that align with NDC’s and the immense potential developing countries to utilize renewable energy to hit two birds with one stone. Through the deployment of renewable energy, developing countries take climate action and progress towards meeting their NDCs while simultaneously meeting the supply need for energy to their citizens.

Yared Hurisa

In my fourth day, I was able to attend two grand events. The first one is ‘Pressing Record on Climate Action: Data Meeting on tracking progress 2020-23. This meeting was organized to aid implementation, bolster credibility, and inform strategies ahead of the next Global Stocktake in 2023. The objective of the meeting was to put in motion a framework towards establishing metrics for tracking progress. This will enable cooperative and individual climate actions to be tracked in such a way that they will ultimately appear on the Global Climate Action portal and be utilized by the broader analytical and research community.

The second major event and the associated side events that I have been following up was on the loss and damage. As such, I witnessed that this key issue is being received increased attention on the global agenda. This can be reflected by the several discussions made on loss and damage that continued throughout much of the day. I saw that progress is emerging on the issue with, but some divisions among parties, particularly on finance. Delegates addressing loss and worked into the night.

G77 and China members of the team discussing their position before the meeting

To this end, I got a chance to assist the communication team of the IISD that undertook an event on removing fuel subsidies as a part of emission reduction at the Nordic Pavilion. Apart from the theme of the workshop, this was important avenue to network with the event organizers.

Shakes Dlamini

I started day three with energy and determination as I rushed to the Africa Group of Negotiator’s meeting at 8:00 am. My excitement was quickly extinguished by the contents of a presentation by Dr. Fatima Denton, the director of UNU-INRA. Dr. Denton presented a summary of a paper entitled ” AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT IN THE AGE OF STRANDED ASSETS” and for the first time, I learned about exposure and vulnerability that African Governments have due to overdependence on natural resources for their economic development. African countries are faced with the burden of advancing economic development to alleviate their people from poverty while simultaneously exercising ambitious climate action. However, the paper also highlights opportunities that African countries have regardless of the exposure and further provides useful recommendations on how governments could mitigate their risks.

My hopes were rejuvenated when I attended a world bank event which proclaimed that innovation is the key to the climate crisis as innovation was also central to the recommendations in the paper from UNU-INRA. The world bank event made this declaration through narratives by representatives from different start-up companies that are innovatively responding to the climate crisis. This event also presented innovative strategies that could be employed by governments to combat climate change through case studies presented by a representative from the Finnish government. Finally, I returned to the negotiations, specifically the negotiations on technology transfer. It was saddening to hear the negotiator representing the African Group repeatedly raise an issue and his outcry seeming to fall on deaf ears as developed country negotiators tagged teamed against Africa’s position.

Yared Lemma

Today is my third day of the conference where I continued following up the issue of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage. Luckily, after the usual coordination meeting of the G77 and China Group, I got the privilege to talk to Mr. Vicente Yu, Coordinator of the Group on Loss and Damage. He graciously answered all my questions. I already prepared a blog post based on his interview.

I also got a chance to connect with new team members of Ethiopian delegation. These are experts from Addis Ababa University, Ministry of Agriculture and another fellow from Ghana. We met during lunch time where we exchanged our conference experiences and current affairs about our home country. Finally, we exchanged contacts for future connections.

I was also able to attend a IPCC Press conference and a couple of side events. Several of the IPCC lead scientists participated in the Press conference including the chair and vice chair of the organization. On the other hand, the topic of the side events were Human settlements on climate change and Africa readying for Paris Agreement.

Well, now it is about mid night. Let me tag the events that I am going to participate tomorrow on the conference application before I fall to sleep.

I will be back with another post tomorrow.

Zukhruf Amjad

Day 003 of the COP and my legs are finally catching up with the massive venue of IFEMA, Madrid. At least I’ve finally figured out where everything is in this massive, massive hall … I think.

The negotiation have starting picking up pace and its noticeable how the delegates have started getting into the technical details of the topics that I am tracking. Its interesting how much detail the negotiators themselves have to go into when they plan for these meetings. The main negotiations I was tracking revolve around creating tables that can be used for transparency – namely GHG emissions, financing structures and NDC progress. At first it might seem trivial to spent 30 minutes talking about the how the references should be included in the footnotes but when you think about how these negotiators are creating the structure that will be used by thousands of people in their countries, its becomes fascinating how tuned their minds are to proactive approach. You can see how these negotiations have learned from aspects missed out in the previous agreements that led to problems in the future, for example the allocation of carbon credits in the KP. I’ve got respect for how patient they are with the process of creating this global framework.

Forrest Robinette

I’m expecting to hear any day now that the German government is in financial crisis. The Germany Pavilion at the COP has free coffee from 9:00-5:00 every day, and I have consumed enough cappuccinos to bankrupt any government that is funding this.

With the power of caffeine, I had another great day at the COP. I began with the BINGO meeting, the daily coordination meeting for business NGOs. It was, perhaps as expected, very different from the TUNGO, or trade unions NGOs, meeting. The BINGO was top-down with leaders sitting at a raised table in front of an audience. The TUNGO by contrast was much more horizontal and held at a roundtable.

I next went to a great event organized by students at Cornell’s Master of Public Administration program. In partnership with the World Bank, they put on an event exploring innovation as the most effective response to climate change. I particularly enjoyed the comments from the representative of the government of Finland. She said among the citizens of Finland, the majority don’t support ambitious climate action. I would not have thought that. If Finland isn’t ready for climate action, I worry we’re all doomed.

Next I went to write a summary for an ILO event on green jobs. It explore the ubiqitious issue of just transition. The ILO is particularly invested in climate action that follows the 2030 Agenda mandate of “Leave No One Behind.” As such, any climate action must be aware of labor impacts and impacts on vulnerable populations. Definitely a great discussion.

More to come tomorrow!

Emma Hughes

I’d like to start today’s reflection with the following comment. This is a climate emergency not climate change. This is phrase we have all heard a few times this week. I think the first time I saw people reacting to this comment (but not explicitly said) in an event I attended on corporate accountability. It seemed to be the first time I saw people get angry and emotional about climate change. To me this was important because it was the first time I saw a very human side of COP25. Up until this point I have only personally seen a very formal side of the conference.

Attending this side event allowed me to bring these ideas to two conversations I had today one with a climate professional and one with my classmates. In both conversations we talked about the need to put people in the center of our considerations for climate policy. I really appreciated the comments and insights provided by the climate professional we talked with. He shared the importance of NGO’s in the negotiations, which I think was very helpful for me when thinking about the innerworkings of COP. However, I think the debrief with my classmates was even better. We got to talk about our days, what we learned, what we thought, etc. Needless to say there were some fun and important points made over tapas. Looking forward to tomorrow and Friday.

Melinda Melvin

Today was a whirlwind day of learning and seeing negotiations in full swing. This morning, the first iteration of the draft text for Article 6 came out, and there started to be real movement by parties on technical aspects of this negotiation. I worked together with other NGOs to formulate updated recommendations in the morning which was distributed to delegates over the lunch break. During the afternoon negotiation session, we saw a delegate reading our proposal, and heard several countries make positions that sounded a lot like what we had proposed in our paper. Some of the Duke students also met up with the Executive Vice President of C2ES, Elliot Diringer, who shared some insights into the COP, its relevance post-rulebook, and how his organization has influenced discussions by Parties over the years. It was a great day of learning more about advocacy in action and how NGOs can affect the outcome of these negotiations from the outside. I also attended a briefing for all Canadians by the Chief Negotiator about Canada’s priorities for this COP. I really appreciated that the delegation was so transparent about its goals, answered questions from observers, and asked observers to share what they were working on and what their interests were at this COP. We ended the day with delicious tapas in the back of a wine shop in downtown Madrid. A long but energizing third day at the COP!

Emma Hughes

The second day of COP 25 started off with a negotiation session on SBI/SBSTA informal consultation on report of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damages. This was exciting since this was the first negotiation session I attended other than the opening plenary session on Monday. This session reminded me a lot of a U.S. Congressional hearing. The focus was mainly on maintaining formality and decorum throughout the session. In my opinion, the maintenance of this formality and decorum is ironic since the UNFCCC also agrees with the fact we are in a climate emergency. It seems now is the time for the action everyone at the COP keeps referring to rather than spend a good chunk of limited time with formalities. It is also possible that this is a somewhat incomplete opinion due to the fact this is my first exposure to this type of environment.

The most informative and beneficial events I attended focused on transforming tourism for climate action and nature-based solutions. Both of these events identified how we can think about this climate emergency through different lenses/frames. In my opinion this is a very important point that should be considered more often. When we engage in decision making that brings in more groups and aligns goals with a group’s existing values, we also engage with that group. As a result we begin to see more people and groups subscribing to behaviors and practices that promote the environment and address the climate crisis from a perspective not previously considered.

Forrest Robinette

Today was negotiation day, no doubt. I have been following the Response Measures negotiations. Response Measures refer to the impacts of climate change action within a country and the effects beyond its borders. The topic is of tremendous interest to developing countries who believe they may be impacted by any climate policies taken by countries they frequently trade with. As an example, imagine the French impose a tax on airplane travel in order to curb emissions. This would have serious implications for, let’s say, tourism in the Maldives. Developing countries want a clear set of priorities to come out of Response Measures negotiations to ensure climate action does not negatively affect their societies.

I also had a chance to attend a press conference for the youth climate report. Part of the presentation was a film by an indigenous group living in a coastal village in Canada. Their village is slowly being destroyed by erosion due to rising sea levels. Two young members from the village spoke at the press conference to say how their way of life is being endangered. Including the voices of youth in climate negotiations has certainly been trendy in past years in the IGO communities. This seemed like a concrete delivery of that goal rather than mere lip service.

I still find myself completely exhausted at the end of each day. I just learned that some members of my client team are still at the conference as I write this (it’s 11:00PM in Madrid). My heart goes out to them!

Zukhruf Amjad

Today I got the chance to attend an event hosted by the IPCC about the Essential Climate Variables that are used to create models that are then used by policy making bodies such as the UNFCCC to refer to the impacts of different indicators of the changing climate atmosphere. It was fascinating because I had spent the last semester taking a course on Energy Modelling Systems where we learned about a very toned down version of what the IPCC did. While the class had majorly focuses on areas relating to energy systems, the discussion at the IPCC Pavilion was an insight into just how broad that scope of work was. It extend far beyond energy – into oceans and hydrological cycles and land use assessment and truly blurred the barriers of natural processes and human predictions.

As I sat listening to these brilliant scientists talk about how they aimed to make the Essential Climate Variables more robust to better adapt to the needs to current policy makers, I was in awe of the ability to stay up with the conversation and truly enjoy how they are integrated the relatively simple concepts we had learned in class to fit larger, more integrated ecosystems and it makes me excited about the possibility of, one day, putting all the tools I had learned in modelling class to good, practical use.

Melinda Melvin

Today was the first real day of negotiations and it was exhausting! Today was also a day full of Article 6! I am tracking the Article 6 negotiations at this COP and working with an awesome group of individuals who are hoping to strategically facilitate an agreement on this important provision. Today I went to the contact group and informal session that began the negotiations on specific guidance for carbon markets under the Paris Agreement. While there wasn’t a lot of movement by the Parties in today’s first ‘real’ negotiation session, it was still a good experience to witness how the Parties work together in coalitions and bring their positions to the facilitators of the negotiation. I also attended some side events put on by academics who study this issue extensively. It was cool to watch many speakers whose work I have read and cited to in my own papers share their expertise with country delegates. I also befriended a delegate from Kenya who asked me what my personal goals were for my first COP. I realized I had not thought it through and was only thinking about what I hoped the overall outcome would be in the negotiations. The reality is, this is such an overwhelming experience because of how technical the negotiations can be and also the sheer volume of issues and draft texts that are being negotiated. I won’t be able to fully digest it all during my first time attending, but hopefully I can set and attain some more specific goals of learning and engaging with climate policy at this venue.

Pradnya Bhandari

Day two started off better than yesterday as I attended the daily BINGO (Business and Industry NGO) Briefing. While the COP is focused on country delegations and negotiations, I was always more interested in private sector engagement to reach global climate targets. The briefing made me feel like I belonged because here was a room full of people who are also tracking business and industry, as the name suggests. I even had the event I was most looking forward to scheduled for today, how exciting! Well, things didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped. The few side events I went to today felt a bit lackluster in their content. The ideas and solutions shared didn’t feel new or impactful enough. Granted, sometimes you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to come up with a great solution, but both of these discussions seemed to ignore the fundamental issue – we don’t need stop gap solutions. Short-term solutions are what created the situation we are in now and as Einstein said, “we can’t solve problems by using the same thinking that created them”. For tomorrow, my plan of attack is to immerse myself in some negotiations so I’ll report back on how those fare!

Shakes Dlamini

I started the second day of the COP with increased ambition as I had finally managed to get a directive from my contact with the Eswatini delegation. The day kicked off with a meeting of the African Group of Negotiators where the group shared its strategic negotiation positions, areas in which they needed more support as well as reports from earlier meetings. It was enlightening to identify the strength that the coordination gives to the African countries. This group support is critical for small nations like Eswatini who have a limited number of delegates hence depend on the group solidarity to have their bases covered without them having to be present in all sessions of interest. Furthermore, I learnt that the group approach enhances implementation of the technology transfer mechanism during the three technology development and transfer SBSTA and SBI informal consultation meetings I attended. The key take aways from this consultations include inter alia, the need for coordination between the technology mechanism and the finance mechanism especially concerning the regional orientation of support through the finance mechanism as opposed to just single party oriented support. Moreover, I was surprised  to learn that coordinated climate assistance between countries is not limited to the mechanisms established through the UNFCCC. This was revealed through my connection with the Eswatini delegation where I was informed of bilateral agreements for climate assistance that Eswatini has with some developed countries.

Emma Hughes 

Needless to say, the first day of COP25 was exciting, informative, and slightly overwhelming. Prior to the first day I had talked with Alan Spears (the person I’m reporting to at NPCA) about topics to focus on and best forms of communication between NPCA and myself. This was new territory for both of us seeing as neither of us had been to a COP before. Our main goal was to of help inform NPCA of possible future avenues for campaigns/advocacy work but also help me develop my professional career by mixing in current interests and NPCA interests.

While the opening remarks were interesting and a great way to kickoff this unique experience, I found that the side events held a lot of excitement and filled the mix of needs both NPCA and I were looking to fulfill this week. The most notable and memorable side events, that I also reported back to Alan on were the “Global climate action: Indigenous rights, territories and resources” and “Political issues of environmental migration.” Both of these side events discussed the importance of protecting and uplifting communities most vulnerable to climate change. This pertains especially to Alan’s work with NPCA as the Senior Director of Cultural and Historical Resources, as well as my previous work with NPCA on the climate vulnerability of cultural and historical resources in the United States. We discussed via email the best ways to implement the strategies and perspectives I learned today into NPCA’s work. Additionally we both decided that a phone call at the end of the week will be helpful for both of us as we move forward from this COP.

Tomorrow I’m especially looking forward to Transforming Tourism for Climate Action. There is a strong focus on tourism embracing a low carbon pathway and ramping up ambition across all sectors in an economy. I think that this session will bring up some important perspectives on how national parks and the patrons of parks can and should play a role in addressing climate change.

Pradnya Bhandari

Today was the first day of COP and it was an interesting experience to say the least. It simultaneously was what I expected and not at all what I expected. The sheer scale and range of issues that were being introduced and discussed was astonishing. I was pleasantly surprised with how many people, from a variety of backgrounds and regions were present and passionate about the topics they were speaking on. Getting to hear these international perspectives was really eye opening to me as I primarily, and almost exclusive see things through the lens of the United States. On the flip side, I felt as if a lot of the discussions were centered around explaining the problems that exist and little time was spent on introducing innovative solutions to these problems. I also didn’t have an assignment from my client today so I capitalized on the free time to hit a wide range of topics that were different than what I expect my client to want me to track. This included attending events on topics from the ambitions at COP to developing a sustainable food system to looking at the future and what goals and targets are needed after the SDGs are needed. From all of these events there were a few words that I kept hearing and those were urgency and the need to listen to youths. I’m curious if this sense of urgency has always been the case at COPs and other UN events or if this is something that has really taken form in the past few years. All these side events highlight speakers that clearly incredibly passionate about the topic they’re working on and I want to see how this passion and information from the NGOs translate into the negotiations. As the COP progresses, I am eager to continue learning about all the various, yet symbiotic initiatives that are taking place across the world.

Zukhruf Amjad

Seeing people that have a natural inkling towards public speaking command an audience is always very exciting to me, those that can command a room with the way they stand or the way they speak is something, I’ve always considered, a very good talent to have. With this regard, two specific people really stood out today –

One was the president of Spain, Presidente del Gobierno, who started his speech by talking about how the idea of the greenhouse gas effect was initially discovered by a woman, Eunice Newton Foote. He talked about how the women were not allowed to take credit for such a discovery back at that time and he wanted to use this occasion to appreciate the work she had done. He also ended his speech by humbly giving the credit for this COP to the Chilean government, who were suppose to hold this event until the civil unrest in their country made it too difficult. The president had the crowd engrossed from the very beginning of his speech till the end, even those people who did not understand Spanish, like myself, were left feeling like the occasion was truly special.

The second time this happened was when Paul Watkinson, the chair of the SBSTA, started the opening plenary session for SBSTA by showing a picture of the Kneeling curve, a graph we have all seen many times in our classes, to make everyone understand the reason they were here and the catastrophic results that would follow if consensus on key matters such as topics of the Article 6 were not reached in the sessions that would follow the next two days. Surprisingly, he also conducted his entire session in French – another language I completely did not understand. (Whoever created those online translation options deserves a COP gold medal).

Shakes Dlamini

My first day of COP 25 was enlightening, to say the least. Today marked my first experience of a multilateral international conference hence my imagination of how COP 25 would be was very far from the truth. Firstly, the day started with a packed train ride in which a colleague and I barely squeezed ourselves in. The train was packed with COP attendants along with working-class Spanish citizens heading to their respective places of work. I had high expectations for the opening events as I thought that they would rally and charge everyone up so that they are excited for the coming next two weeks and I did not get that sentiment. However, it was really exciting to get a glimpse of what happens when different regions or countries have different reservations or opinions on certain issues. The main contention was when the Agenda for the Paris Agreement was being proposed by the COP president and it was noted that African States face special circumstances. This was followed by Honduras expressing the need for Latin American states to be also considered as facing special circumstances too which led to an extended back and forth. It was interesting to hear the back and forth from countries that supported each side and the final verdict from the President.

Hearing the concerns that African states and other developing countries have such as improvements of the technology transfer mechanisms, changing the financing modalities of the COP and Paris Agreement as well as giving attention to adaptation and loss and damage. Hearing different delegates in the African group complaining about the finance mechanisms, lack of adaptation funds and lack of direction regarding loss and damage confirmed for me the magnitude of the issues which I have been thinking about leading to the COP. The side events I attended were very informative and I felt a sense of assurance about my graduate school plans since the problems that I would like to work on in the are very real and many countries are concerned about them.

Melinda Melvin

Today was the first day of COP and I feel it’s been three days already! Today the Conference of the Parties opened, as well as the Subsidiary Body for Implementation and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice. I attended the opening plenaries for each of these bodies under the Framework Convention as well as a side event on the Clean Development Mechanism. I will be tracking Article 6 at this COP which is the last remaining portion of the Paris rulebook yet to be decided. There is a lot of anticipation for this topic which covers market mechanisms to achieve the ambition of the Paris Agreement and there is hope that an agreement can be reached. Last year, the talks on this topic fell through as a few Parties blocked an agreement from being reached in the last minute. I am excited to watch as much of these negotiations as possible this week and watch international diplomacy and negotiation take place. This is also a topic that I have been following closely for the past year so I look forward to learning more about the technical aspects of this very important provision of the Paris Agreement. It is exciting to be in the room with distinguished delegates from all over the world that are committed to figuring out how to address climate change as a global community. Being here I also realize how much there is to learn and how much detail is involved in these topics related to our global response to climate change.