Author: eshrest1

COP24 has been a crazy experience. Diplomacy at work is sometimes undiplomatic. Below are some quotes that I heard/read at some events.

1. “Now that we are done with the skit”, we can move on to our speakers for today. – Moderator Wells Griffith in a side event titled “US innovative technologies spur economic dynamism” on December 10 after protestors were escorted out.

The side event was heavily anticipated by COP24 attendees who had to line up to enter the event. The room was packed way before the event was supposed to start. There was a heavy security presence because an Action (a demand/protest) was organized for the side event. While waiting outside the room, I could hear “shame on you” and “keep them in the ground” being chanted inside. Those of us outside joined in. After the protestors were escorted out by security, the doors opened again, and I was able to enter the room to hear the panelists.

2. Our goal is “to improve the resiliency, efficiency, and competitiveness of coal fire plants” …. “The question is: do we continue using old coal technology used in the 1970s or move forward with new technologies which will be near-zero emitting?” – Steve Winberg, assistant director at the US Department of Energy speaking at the same panel as above on December 10.

Winberg was clearly facing difficulty defending his position supporting coal industries. When someone from the audience asked him why the Department thinks it is necessary to reduce emissions from coal plants when Trump has been calling climate change a hoax, he went on to talk about how we are privileged because we don’t use wood and fire to cook like people do in many other countries, and that we are not appreciative of our privilege. It was completely unrelated. Since he’d been on the job for a year, he had worked to make the coal industry more efficient, and since nobody had told him to do otherwise, he would continue.

3. “The sun does not shine 24 hours a day. Wind is not available 24 hours a day. But you can get enough LNG [Liquified Natural Gas] in a few minutes.” A spokesperson from Sempra Energy speaking at the same event as mentioned above on December 10.

There’s nothing more to say.

4. “I’m warning all of our people here that if you let this go, then it signals that we are mitigation-centric. We need to signal that we are supporting more adaptation.” – Delegate of Saudi Arabia on including the 1.5 C Special Report on the guidelines for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on December 11.

Saudi Arabia was being difficult in the meeting to draft the guidelines for GCF. He went on to say that the committee does not understand what they are doing by trying to include a mention of the 1.5 C Special Report in paragraph 7, so the Saudis have to enlighten them. They made the effort to block the mention of the IPCC report wherever they could.

5. “…and together, we can proceed to be more resilient, along with the SDGs… I really don’t know what they are… to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.” – President of Maldives in his speech at a side event about “Loss and Damage and the SAMOA strategy for 2030” on December 12.

The Pavilion erupted with giggles when the president said this sentence. I wasn’t sure if he said it as a joke or whether he really did not know what SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are. He then went on the reference the “IPPC” report twice and also said “I’ve been told to read from a statement, but I really don’t want to do that. Anyway, I guess I have to return to it” in the middle of his speech. The next day, however, the President of Maldives called on all parties to support the IPCC 1.5 C Special Report on behalf of all small island states, so I suppose his statements the previous day were for giggles…

6. “Yes, this is a manel, not a panel. We should consider that.” — Moderator of a panel on “New Adaptation approaches in the age of the SDGs” in the Japanese Pavilion on December 13.

In the Q&A, one participant raised the point that there were five men on a panel about local adaptation projects, when, in fact, women tend to be actively involved in the household, farming, or other work as breadwinners. This point is especially true in rural areas in developing countries since men often migrate to urban areas in search for better economic opportunities. One of the panelists explained that their adaptation projects address gender imbalances in rural areas and include women in implementing adaptation projects. It was unfortunate that there were no women in the panel, but it wasn’t the panelists who organized the event.

7. “Our partners are smart. Partners. Not me. And not even you.” Adau from Timor Leste, leading the discussions on Loss and Damage (L&D) on behalf of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), December 14.

It was a grim moment for the LDCs knowing that there’s no finance being discussed for L&D in the Katowice text currently being renegotiated at the time of writing. The developed countries are completely trying to scrap away L&D according to Adau, they kept pushing discussion on this issue until finance came up under Articles 9.5 and 9.7 last night, and they’re attempting to merge the issue under adaptation. But the reality is that L&D requires at least double the amount of money that has been allocated for adaptation so far. Adau left the room early to return to negotiating with other countries. A gentleman from Bangladesh mentioned that his country is attempting to pilot a 2-year loss and damage national mechanism, which was a ray of hope.

Melissa mentioned that we attended a Yale Network Dinner on Saturday, December 8, only hours after arriving in Katowice. One of the speakers at that event was an inspiring woman who said that she always numbers her points because people tend to remember numbered items better. So here’s my list from the day and a half that we’ve been here:

1. Saadiq and I moved on from the Yale dinner to a party hosted by the Climate Action Network in a club with an eclectic playlist. We were impressed by the venue. Every time we tried to leave, we would stumble upon another room with even better music. It beat any Swarthmore party I’ve attended till date (which isn’t a high bar). I noticed there were only a handful of attendees from the G77 countries at the party, and most guests were either from Europe or the United States. It was strange to be in a crowded club with deafening music and people of all ages from all over the world, and even stranger to think that we were dancing with negotiators at one of the most important climate change conferences. As Martin, our Uber driver from the airport, said, “it’s all one big party”. So far it seems like that to me too. Hopefully, that will change tomorrow when I actually attend sessions.

2. On our way to Krakow today (December 7), I sat next to an interpretor for the UN who translates from English to French, and English to Spanish. Surprisingly, she knew about Swarthmore (but she kept referring to it as “Swarth”). She was a Columbian-French freelance interpreter from New York who most often translates for the African Union, European Union, and UN bodies such as UNICEF and UN-Women.

I learnt some interesting facts about the work of interpreters. For example, they are officially only “allowed” to work for five-and-a-half hours a day because they tend to hit fatigue beyond that time frame and start making mistakes in the translations. Interpreters work in pairs and switch every half-hour. I asked how translating simultaneously works, whether doing everything in real-time meant that she occasionally missed words and whether she’s able to translate everything from one language to another when some languages do not have the same vocabulary. She gave me a bewildered look and said, “that’s the job”. You have to know when to stop yourself from working because it’s a high stakes job. Misinterpreting something could have wide-reaching implications at the UN, where translations are often published and incorporated in texts.

She translates from English to French 75% of the time, and one of her favorite words to translate is “accountability” because apparently, that word does not exist in French. There’s the word “responsibility”, but of course it’s not the same. She liked the precision of the word accountability, for which she needs three words to communicate the same meaning in French (Google translate does not have the French translation for accountability as I now know). French is about 16% wordier than English, so when speakers speak fast, interpreters can often sound like robots trying to squeeze in meaningful translations.

It’s another problem when speakers have thick accents that she cannot understand. “But then I look around in the room and realize that nobody else understood it either, so it’s okay. It just gets lost. So it’s the responsibility of countries and organizations to send speakers who are articulate when they speak.” That was an interesting take. Having the text in front while she’s translating always helps, she said. Even if she’s looking at it for the first time. “Then I can add intonations and make the speech more interesting.” Otherwise what gets noted down is a dry speech. “The UN Secretary General’s office is always very organized.” They share speeches with interpreters at least a day in advance. On the other hand, most other countries and small organizations that make speeches almost never share their speeches in advance, which makes it more difficult for interpreters and for the speakers to get their message across.

3. At the end of our day, we got a text saying the Polish delegation just published a document for how they want to second week of COP to proceed. Here’s the link: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/Information%20Note%20by%20the%20President%20on%20the%20mode%20of%20work.pdf