Paying our climate Debt

So I suppose you all want to know what happened at the NGO party. Unlike a certain drama, I didn't get shot or sleep with an oil executive (extreme lobbying!). I just went to a very big, polish night club and saw a lot of professional grown ups get very drunk and score each other. Still the music was cheesy 80s stuff so great for dancing. I admit that due to the cheap drink and good dancing it was very late before I fell into bed. The FOE international strategy meeting on Sunday moring was quite hard to get up for but very well worth it. There is some amazing experience within the network. Yuri from FOE japan shared his mind maps with us and I felt the last bits of cop fog clearing from my mind. Throughout the meeting people were always happy to stop and explain issues to us less senior members of the FOE team. We discussed how we feel it is going and what our key areas of focus should be for the next week. I felt at last that I was getting on top of the process. I still come accross bits i don't understand but I have crossed the thereshold of having most of the structures and issues clear in my mind.

The mood here is still being affected by news coming from Brussels on the weakness of the EU climate and energy package. What is generally referred to as the EU package is a collection of measures on climate between the EU countries that is meant to become law by early 2009. The parliment voted in favour of a reasonably strong package, but the next body it had to go to in the EU was the council. Here countries have allowed their special interests to push them to water this package down to a pathetic squeak of a commitment. Historically it has been the EU who has provided strong leadership on climate measures. With America not yet ready to take the helm the talks feel like meandering into the duldrums. Developed countries are not prepared to make the kind of deep cuts that the science demands. According to the IPCC this is at least 25-40%. Our Governmnets are not prepard to move on significant amounts of funding for adaptation in developing countries. It is these countries whose citizens are suffering droughts, floods and increased risk of disease as a result of our historical emissions. Industrialised countries owe a climate debt. Paying it is not a matter of charity, it is a matter of justice.

If the developed countries were prepared to get serious about cutting their own emissions and commit to fairly transfering funds, then developing countries would surely respond. What they can bring to the table is an offer to deviate from the emissions curves that business as usual models of development produce. The offer to develop in a low carbon manner is a huge one. They are offering something we have never done. Alas, nobody seems ready to change things in a big way. Its chipping at the edges of wording, to get the interests of your own country served, that seems to be on the agenda here. John Gormley arives tonight and I hope he can bring some courage to these negotiations. At the very least he may be more forthcoming in meeting with us than the negotaiting delegation have been so far.

There is a hobo bear who hangs around the convention centre. He has a plackard that points out that change is what we really need.

I'm with the bear on this one.