Meeting the UK Climate Change Secretary

(Picture: Tearfund Advocacy Director Paul Cook and Ed Miliband)

We delivered letters from Tearfund supporters to Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change today. The letters called for the UK to show leadership in the climate negotiations and push for progress on getting finance to help poor countries adapt to the changing climate.

We hope to see the UK making steps to do this soon.

Pick up the pace!

Today is the final day of talks. There was hope that the arrival of Ministers yesterday for ‘high level’ talks might help but progress is still slow. The atmosphere is grey and stagnant – like the weather outside.

I understand one major problem is that many developed countries have been unwilling to bring their commitment for cutting emissions by 2020 to the table. This has hampered talks here in Poznan. Hopes for progress on this have melted. This means the range of 25-40% emissions cuts by 2020 recognised last year at the talks in Bali still stands, but has not been built on.


I caught up with Raju, our partner from Nepal who is here at the talks with Tearfund. He said:
“The talks are not progressing beyond what was agreed last year in Bali. This is very sad as the same decisions are being dug up again.”

Negotiations continue and are likely to run into the night. One track of talks we have yet to hear about is on how to help countries adapt with climate change. We hope there will be agreement on schemes for providing finance and green technology to help with this. These are important for developing countries already hit by the changing climate. We think there might be some progress on this in the next few hours so I hope to write with good news soon.

Warsaw Wanderings

I went with Badger on an important trip to Warsaw yesterday. We joined 200 campaigners to campaign for the EU climate and energy package to be strengthened. It was much colder than in Poznan – badger’s fur meant he was the only one who didn’t freeze!

German Chancellor Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Tusk were in Warsaw to talk about the details in the EU climate package. Both countries have been weakening the deal: Tusk because of Poland’s reliance on coal (the most polluting fuel) and Merkel because of the financial crisis.

We rallied outside their meeting to remind them that so much is at stake. Poor people are already feeling the effects of climate change - we need to cut emissions now to try to prevent catastrophic climate change. The EU has typically been a climate leader internationally – but if it gets its own climate laws wrong then it will undermine progress in Poznan and beyond. The costs of inaction are much greater than the costs of action.

Back in Poznan... The atmosphere seems more frantic at the conference centre - there’s a constant buzz of conversation and people seem to be rushing around. We hope this means that talks are progressing but as we’ve seen many times before, talking doesn’t necessarily mean action. We have heard that talks could go on all night in the scramble for some gleam of progress by the end. The Ministers arrive tomorrow so the pressure’s really on…

Half time update

I spoke to Paul Cook (pictured left), Tearfund Advocacy and Media Director at the half way point in the talks to find out how things have been going.

Paul: ‘There has been a little bit of progress. But things need to speed up to make sure we get a global deal at the end of 2009. Some developed countries have been stalling and blocking progress by not committing to anything now and not saying when they will commit. This is unhelpful and a worrying sign for next year.’


So the final week of talks is crucial for getting talks back on track. I’ve heard that many developed countries are unwilling to make commitments now. This seems deeply worrying to me as we only have one year to agree a deal. I really hope developed countries take a lead and make a concerted effort to pick up the pace.

The EU climate and energy deal, which should be finalised this week, could be a massive stumbling block to any progress in Poznan. EU members are putting politics before the desperate need for action on climate change making the deal (which sets EU’s climate policies for the next 12 years) considerably weaker than hoped for.

I am going to Warsaw tomorrow to campaign for a stronger EU deal as German Chancellor Merkel’s meets with Polish Prime Minister Tusk – they are blocking decisions. I’ll hopefully tell you more about this when I get back.

March from Freedom Square

‘No, No, No to CO2!’ and ‘Climate Justice Now!’ were chanted as we marched out from Freedom Square, raising our voices for action on climate change.

Raju, Advocacy Advisor from Tearfund’s partner organisation in Nepal spoke to the crowds about how climate change is impacting his country through floods and changing weather patterns. He called for more funding to help poor communities adapt to the changing climate.

Lots of polar bears, penguins and other animals were represented in costumes. But we must remember that the poorest communities are already bearing the brunt.

Badgerspotted!

I was thrilled to finally spot Badger all suited and booted today! He's been busy lobbying UK Government delegates to put people living on the frontline of disasters first. Can't wait to see what else he gets up to...

Jagshemash! Greeting from Poland

The Tearfund team has made it safely to Poland via Koln (where a surprising number of adults were seen sporting Santa and Rudolph hats from the Christmas market) and set up shop for the next two weeks of UN climate negotiations. We diligently made sure we got off at the right stop, as we weren’t keen to go to the train’s final destination of Moscow in December. So far, I’m pleasantly surprised by Poland. The heat-tech thermals and hot water bottle have gone unused since although Poland is cold, they really know how to heat a home!

Dental Tourism
Although we’ve only been here one day, we decided it was time to try a bit of Eastern European dental tourism. Actually, it was forced upon policy assistant Laura who cracked a tooth en route to Poznan. We can report all smiles from the Polish dental industry.

Hopes for the talks
In news of greater importance, the actual talks began slowly today. We hope they will quicken up in order to seal a global climate deal by December of next year to ensure no gap between commitment periods. As the halfway point in the two year plan outlined in last year’s Bali road map, Poland must pave the way to agreeing an outcome in Copenhagen that adequately addresses climate change. In Poznan, the global community needs to move from talking and proposals to agreeing the building blocks and a work plan to get there by December 2009.

Here policy staff Richard and Sara follow a map to the conference centre. We hope the UN talks follow the Bali Road Map with as much attention.

And finally…
Lonely Planet’s advice to vegetarians travelling to Poland is to expect to lose weight. I seem to be conquering the odds however and am finding plenty of lovely Polish meat-free cuisine. Who knew a bowl of olives at breakfast could be so satisfying?