Be careful of the words you say, Keep them short and sweet. You never know, from day to day, Which ones you’ll have to eat. Anonymous Today I had my first early-morning meeting. This week’s meetings all start at 4 am but I must admit that I stayed in bed a bit longer and joined…
CCL’s signature policy, of carbon fee and dividend, struggles to get the attention it deserves from the people who need to know about it. It may not be much comfort but we’re not alone in promoting a good idea that, like me when I try to order beer at a bar, seems to be all…
Yesterday was my first day back in the office since November. I’m afraid this left no time for a blog but, on the plus side, that now gives me an opportunity to contrast the last two days. In one sense, the last two nights of negotiations have been similar in that I was equally confused…
National meeting: Tuesday 15th June 2021 8pm (via Zoom) Panel: Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Kremer, Brian Utton and Prof. Dave Waltham How could the oil industry help decarbonise the global economy? Oil has shareholders, pension funds invested in it and enjoys the world’s biggest profits – it isn’t going to fade away. There are committed assets…
Finally! A session I can be happy about. I spent my time, last night, at a session on aligning the assessments of the CTCN (the Climate Technology Centre and Network) and the “Technology Mechanism”. This is all about transferring climate-friendly technology to less developed nations with the “mechanism” being legalese for what’s in the various…
Last night’s meeting was probably the most frustrating, for me, so far. I watched a 90 minute discussion that was entirely taken up with debating whether or not another meeting was needed. The session in question was supposed to be about “impacts of mitigation”. I mentioned this set of talks in an earlier blog where…
No I haven’t missed a day; we actually had Sunday off! Monday night was my first late session (10:00 pm – 1:00 am) and I’m definitely starting to see a pattern in the negotiations. I had expected all sorts of subtle groupings of nations and shifting alliances depending upon the exact issue. That’s not what…
I’ve spent the last few days, as many of you will have done over half term, with my family. So I’ve missed a few days but am back in harness now. The highlight for me, on day 6, was the realisation that border carbon adjustments are on the “agenda” but not on the agenda. I…
Image: OxfordClimatePolicy.org Why is climate negotiation so difficult? This thought passed through my head repeatedly, today, as I contemplated the efforts of 250 diplomats to agree common time frames for NDCs. Let me explain what (I think) that means and then I’ll come back to my puzzlement over how hard it is. The UK’s Nationally…
The learning curve for COP26-processes is as steep and technically tricky as the North Ridge of Everest. I’m currently getting my head around the draft provisional agenda item 4b of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation whilst looking forward with barely suppressed excitement for the 4th meeting of the Katowice Committee of Experts—I wonder what they’re…
