Today just got better and better (but the politics got worse and worse) (COP 13)

13 Dec 2007 – Geoff Lye

It’s been one of those rare days when things go from bad to good to great. After three hours’ sleep (bad), I decided to sort a backlog of emails (apologies to those still unanswered). It included a letter of accreditation for an article which I had been asked to write – media accreditation would also be helpful more generally in the last few days of the conference when the side events are running down. By the time I arrived at the accreditation office, I was suffering from lack of sleep and the extreme humidity. Unfortunately, the head of accreditation though sympathetic would not budge on a principle that delegate status cannot be changed mid-conference.

Mildly deflated, I headed for the shuttle bus to the Grand Hyatt for a side event on energy efficiency and demand management. I lasted less than an hour before deciding there was not much new to hear and that I would have done better to stay at the main conference and take in the speeches of the Norwegian PM and the Canadian Environment Minister. Back at the centre, I walked in as Canada’s John Baird was closing with ‘Let us agree to put the greater good ahead of our individual needs and work together to reach a consensus for the future of our planet.’ His final words bore little relation to the position Canada has taken here, with even Yvo de Boer breaking from his diplomatic style to imply massive hypocrisy in having Canada abandon its Kyoto commitments and then demand that binding targets should be applied to developing economies.

At this point, I decided to give up, head back and – for the first time – relax and enjoy my hotel. A quick swim, delicious lunch and fell asleep until 6. Called Norman Myers (Green College Fellow) with whom I’d arranged to have dinner to be told that he had a subsequent dinner engagement with ‘some president or other’. Shortly after, Michael Molitor rang and asked whether I was going to the Al Gore speech at 8, which I had completely forgotten about. Checking the web at 6.50 pm I found that it was actually at 7.30, so had a short, sharp shower and was in reception 10 minutes later.

Asking around to see whether anyone else might be taking a taxi to the same event, one man called me over. As we introduced ourselves, I realised that it was (Dr.) Bill Kyte previously of EON and PowerGen (and in that capacity a client many years ago). Another great cab journey. Bill has long been a mover and shaker in the power generation industry and knows everyone at UK and EU level in the business and policy arena. His take on the latest state of play was that deforestation would be included; that the target reduction range of 25-40% was effectively off the table; and that Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) had short term hurdles but would emerge as part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in the medium term. He also made encouraging noises about the impact of the work SustainAbility had undertaken for him and that SD was now embedded in EON at a very senior level.

We had to abandon our taxi near to the Centre on account of the huge numbers pouring in for the Gore speech. No surprise then to find that the Plenary Hall was packed and throngs of us were forced to watch on screens outside the hall. Gore’s speech was nothing less than momentous. Nearly an hour long, it was a tour de force of logic, persuasion, emotion and exceptional oratory. He clearly considered this his chance to tip the forces of energy from the negative frustration and accusations into the positive power and potential still available to the negotiators, even at this late hour and in spite of the intransigence of some critical players. He talked of how he wanted them to think beyond the issues and hurdles created ‘by my own country’. He also wanted to change, he said, the way they felt and to invoke ‘moral inspiration’. ‘You can feel anger and frustration, and direct it at the United States of America’, he continued, ‘or you can make a second choice, you can decide to move forward and do all of the difficult work that needs to be done and save a large open blank space in your document and put a footnote by it that says this document is incomplete.’

It was one of those speeches which are unforgettable and it is hard to imagine the US delegation being unmoved by it (though some comments suggested that he had broken the golden US rule – which is not to speak out against your country). But as I have noted before, as a ‘sideshow’ this was not part of the official negotiations which were going on behind closed doors a few yards away. Gore was in Plenary Room 2 while Environment Ministers were still delivering their set pieces to a (presumably) nearly empty Plenary Room 1. The difference between the passion and vision of the 10,000 on the sidelines and the politics and intransigence of the hundred or so actual negotiators is stark and depressing. This is a strange process indeed!

The view as I left was that those ‘real’ negotiations were in poor shape, though (according to a DEFRA delegate and an old hand at COPs) the fact that about 70% of the substantive parts of the final text were still to be agreed was par for the course at this stage.

Back at the hotel, I went for a Balinese massage. In spite of having someone walk along my spine, having my arms and legs stretched to the point of pain, I emerged completely re-energised. Next to my room is a ‘lagoon pool’: I swam until midnight looking up into a clear and starry sky with Al Gore’s speech still echoing in my head. From bad to great in 20 hours.

From great to bad again.

Al Gore has a lot to answer for. Out of the pool and still thinking through the events of the day, I mistakenly put insect repellent cream on my toothbrush. Not recommended.