Warming up to Copenhagen

Today was my first real day at COP15 (see From the (cold, cold) Ground in Copenhagen), and it's pretty overwhelming.

I started the day meeting up with Steve, who had my "secondary pass". Turns out, you needed not only a badge, but an additional ticket intended to limit observer participation to 7,000. Still a bit of a mob scene outside - people who hadn't yet gotten badges, people with badges but no secondary pass - but we worked our way inside in about 15 minutes.

The day started for me with a briefing by BINGO - Business and Industry Non-Governmental Organizations. This is all the groups (such as the Business Round Table through whose auspices I've had the opportunity to be here) that represent the private sector. They gave us an update of what happened yesterday, particularly in areas of concern to business and industry (such as Technology Transfer), as well as an update on the constantly changing schedule of side events. Side events are meetings and presentations that occur throughout the day and throughout the venue on topics from what countries are doing to technology developments to advocacy. Some are open, some strictly limited.

They also told us what they knew, or expected, about logistics for the coming days. Apparently they're limiting attendance by all NGO delegates to 7,000 again tomorrow, then 1,000 Thursday, and some to-be-negotiated number between 90 and 300 on Friday. Just to put this in perspective, there are some 35,000 observers here who spent a lot of money and carbon to attend. But many heads of state are going to be here (including our own President Obama) so there are very real security concerns. There are also some very frustrated visitors!

Given all this, I thought I'd best take in the sights today.  The floor where we entered is a giant tradeshow, with booths by countries (Tuvalu speaks to sea rise, Nigeria to the need for funding from the developed world), by familiar environmental NGOs like WWF and WRI, by many smaller and more focused NGOs. At the University of Regina booth I learned about the state of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage Technology) and at another about the state of wave and tidal energy. All have brochures and flyers (though I learned quickly to ask for the CD instead).

There are huge swaths of inside real estate given over to the media, to an endless bank of laptops (where I sit at this moment), to cafes. The Documents booth hosts a constant throng of people picking up the Daily Programme Part 1 (the official activities) and Part Two (the side events), as well as draft text of the agreements to date. Country delegations have offices around the periphery and in far away halls, though the U.S. booth has a series of presentations about the climate science. A small space cycles through advocacy groups, in frog, tree, or other nature-inspired costume. The rooms where the plenary sessions are underway trail queues of hopefuls vying for entry.

In the midst of one of the bigger halls I was really pleased to iseeT @ COP15, a presentation area dedicated to the role of ICT in mitigation and adaptation of climate change. Some of the presentations are local, some are remote via TelePresence. The presentations today ranged from one on space technologies, to one on cities, to one on a Web 2.0 platform being developed to driving environmental action. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, will be speaking remotely tomorrow (but alas, I have a conflict).

I did attend a side event by WBSCD, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, who together with WRI (World Resources Institute) comprises the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative. EMC is sponsoring the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3 for Products and Supply Chains; this session was about the former and included representatives from other organizations working on Product Carbon Footprint standards as well as a couple of other representatives from industry. The meeting room had been confirmed too late to put it in the "Part Two" schedule, and then was changed twice, with the net result that there were only a dozen(ish) participants. On the other hand, I had a great opportunity to chat with folks from several of the organizations afterward about the challenges of doing "PCF" in the IT industry, and it was clearly time well spent for me!

If I had one impression to take away today, it would be that this place is a study in contradictions. There is an incredible amount of information on the need to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation ("REDD" - don't ask) - but it's printed on reams and reams of paper. The conference is all about long term planning, but they still haven't determined logistics for Friday. It's about inclusion, but there are people who can't get in. It's about transparency, but the negotiations are increasingly opaque.

(I'm agonizing about whether to take the obvious cheap shot about Global Warming and the outside temperature here - but fortunately I know better).

I don't know that I'm optimistic that a good global framework will result from this event, but as I leave here today, they're still talking - and that's got to be a good thing!

Comments

[Kathrin]

There certainly is - and many compelling reasons to do so!

[cheap computers]

There is an incredible amount of information on the need to reduce emissions.

[Kathrin]

Thanks, Bob! I'd have liked to see an even bigger role for business, better acknowledging the extent to which we're part of the solution as well as of the problem. No question the issues are complex, but they will only get more so, and more expensive. And this uncertainty doesn't encourage investments on the scale necessary to drive the business and technology innovations we're going to need.

My trip is over tomorrow, but the conference won't be until the wee hours of Saturday. And as they say, it ain't over 'til it's over!

[peterike]

So when do you start blogging about what a gigantic scam this all is? It's called ClimateGate. The cat is out of the bag now.

[Bob Olwig]

Kate,

Thanks for the post...great insider view on the event. I like the idea that valued partners like EMC, HP, Microsoft & Cisco are participating but, to be honest, it's become a lot more complicated in understanding the real issues at hand.

Good luck with your trip.