Hopenhagen to Flopenhagen

It's taken me a while to recover from Copenhagen and when I read the news reports I still find it hard to acknowledge what happened and what it means for the future. The news stories haven't gotten better with climate deniers getting media space, the UNFCCC executive secretary leaving and climate policy implementation both in the USA and Australia looking grim. I'm also trying hard to find something to blame. Was it the tedious queues in the freezing weather, or the lack of toilets in the conference centre, the lack of Vitamin E (I didn’t see the sun for 3 weeks), was it the fact that for months expectations for Copenhagen were lowered to such an extent that there was never any chance to get a “legally-binding deal” or was it the Chinese, the Americans, the Europeans or the egotistical Danish President? ...whatever it takes to get rid of the hangover that is Cop-out-hagen.

To say I’m disappointed about the outcome is obvious but the question on everyone’s mind is what now? Kyoto was supposed to be the first step and now everyone is saying that the Copenhagen Accord – a political declaration – is the first step. It feels like we’ve just got backwards. Politicians, the media and negotiators have a way of lowering expectations – and these were lowered below sea-level in Copenhagen. And with 115 Heads of State coming to Denmark – something, anything had to happen. So they lowered the expectations and instead of negotiating on real text to deliver a strong legally-binding solution – they wasted time arguing about killing the Kyoto Protocol, arguing about what compensation oil countries should receive if developed countries reduce emissions, argued about how much to pay, how much developed countries could use the carbon market to offset their emissions or gain credits from forestry instead of reducing fossil fuel emissions, about what to measure and verify and about who was in charge. Environment Ministers came to this meeting and sat around for 5 days, instead of negotiating and providing the political input that was necessary to get a deal. Because of this Heads of Government had to sit down to write text. The Brazilian President put it the best when he articulated that he had to participate in meetings that quite frankly heads of state shouldn’t participate in.

The biggest question is what does this mean for the UN system? If five countries can agree on a deal that the rest of the world is suppose to accept how is this democratic? The spirit of compromise meant that those countries with the most to lose had to compromise and those that didn’t have anything to lose got their own way (i.e. USA and China). What does this mean now for Kyoto? The first commitment period ends in 2012 and the intention at Copenhagen was to negotiate a second commitment period and find a way to bring the USA and other more advanced developing countries in. It took 5 years to negotiate Kyoto, 10 years to implement it and now we have to negotiate something new. A Brazilian negotiator once said does that mean it will take 15 years to negotiate the next one? If it takes that long we’re in deep trouble. The small island states were negotiating that greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2015 to ensure that we can stay below 1.5 degrees because the real impacts of sea-level rise, ocean acidification and more extreme hurricanes are becoming a reality. My colleagues have done an analysis of what the pledges countries have put forward really mean and it leaves the world heading to over 3°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100 http://www.climateactiontracker.org/

I’ve been working on the UN climate negotiations now for over four years and Copenhagen was the busiest and the messiest I’ve ever seen - the politics was to blame and so was the process of the Danish President. The overwhelming emotion is one of utter exhaustion. 2009 was filled with 6 official UN meetings, one trip to Grenada for a small islands states meeting and long office hours. I got through with the help of Simon, his never-ending support and excellent kitchen skills, friends coming to visit and living with us, emails and skype video and finally having Jennifer in Copenhagen in the media centre. So now I’m regaining my strength to continue the fight. I’ve learnt heaps from my colleagues who understand the science all too well and the negotiators from the small island states who understand what the impacts will be all too well. The ABC did this excellent interview with the Prime Minister of Tuvalu highlighting just how important this is... http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2009/2774089.htm

In the new year Simon and I travelled through Copenhagen on our way to Germany from Sweden on the train. I was really daunted about going back to the city where it had all gone so horribly wrong but Simon took me on a bicycle tour of Copenhagen, the sun came out and we were bicycle tourists, checking out all the fabulous bicycle lanes all over the city. Each new bicycle lane boosted my optimism. I learnt that the traffic lights are set to the average speed of cyclists going around the city so that they don't have to stop at red lights. We also saw the huge offshore wind farms that were introduced by the previous Danish government and I managed to leave the city with a glimmer of hope that people can really make a difference, and a rekindled fire to keep fighting the good fight.

The IPCC has been getting a hammering lately from conservative bloggers and climate deniers - but check out this excellent piece from Real Climate which gives the real facts from the spin. http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/02/ipcc-errors-facts-and-spin/

Ice skating anyone?

If you’re an kinesthetic learner keen on incorporating a bit of ‘direct experience’ into the next five minutes - you should go and read this in the freezer...cause yep, it’s been pretty cold here.

Winter has arrived, and apparently this particular winter has been on vacation for about 30 years. Ridiculous amounts of snow and very cold temperatures have been the norm for 6 weeks now. Whoever is responsible for naming depressions/cold fronts over here has a somewhat ironic sense of humour, naming one of them ‘Daisy’....a flower which, if I remember correctly, would make no attempt to wake from its dormant phase at -17 degrees. ‘Witch Hazels’ on the other hand like a cold snap – but I guess that doesn’t really have the same ring to it.

Winter has actually been a really beautiful sight...at least from the relatively warm view of our apartment window. The snow has been white and fluffy, refusing to turn “mutschig” - a consistency and colour similar to grey mashed potatoes, which is usually what snow looks like after a day or two in the city. Walking has been tricky, with the streets pretty much being just like an ice skating rink. Kirsten’s been working on her slapstick routine by taking a few falls in very public places, arms whorling like windmills in an attempt (unsuccessful) to take flight rather than fall. On one occasion she managed to get two words out before hitting the deck, I’ll let you guess what they were. I managed to do a 360 degree slide on my bike on the icy bicycle lane which I’d like to call ‘free riding’ but I’d be lying as there was nothing even remotely resembling control of any sort...plus my dismount was, well just embarrassing.

Jen came back to Berlin with Kirsten after Copenhagen and we had a very ‘gemutlich’ week leading up to Christmas. The Macey girls were both completely stuffed after the, ahem, biggest climate change conference in history and so there were lots of sleep ins, late breakfasts and warm drinks. We did of course get out amongst it as well, visiting Christmas markets, puppet shows (Puss in Boots auf Deutsch), seeing the Nutcracker (check out the post Ballet action shot) and singing Christmas carols on Christmas eve with Kirsten’s boss’s family.

We then went and spent New Years in Sweden with Jane, Peter, Alma and Kirra and had a ball in the snow. We got to use some really cool old wooden skis which I managed to look very uncool in as I had my first attempt at cross county skiing. Kirsten definitely won more style points than me and the locals just looked like typical cool Swedes who were born with skis already on their feet :-)

After New Year’s we did a Verwandten und freunde (family and friend) tour by train around Germany and Belgium. This was loads of fun but didn’t do anything to get rid of the ‘extra’ winter layers we’ve accumulated. Food, sitting, food, drinking, food, little stroll, sleep, food...you know how it is. Highlights included chatting all night (in German!) with Kirsten’s aunts and uncles in Recklinghausen, breakfast – extending to lunch – extending to afternoon tea at Gunter and Isolde’s, catching up with Anette and Michael in Brussels, meeting Benjamin - Karim and Sebastian’s gorgeous little boy, eating reibe kuchen and drinking Kolsch with Lars and Andrea in Koeln, home-made Maultaschen at Gigi’s, the ‘bummel’ (wander) around Schorndorf (known for the gallant woman who saved the town from the men who wanted to give it up to the French) with Jutta and Sabine, going tobogganing with Ute and Kai-Marco and then having a massive snow-ball fight which, I should say, I definitely won (sorry Kirsten but you know it’s true)!

We’ve been back in Berlin for the last three weeks and have settled into the old routine. Kirsten’s back at work at a somewhat more normal pace than before and I’m back in the classroom being a student again. We had an awesome day recently at Berlin's velodrome watching a 6 day event. The atmosphere was fantastic and full of all ages and walks of life - the german's really get into their cycle events. Check out Kirsten watching the event with a gerkin, pretzel and beer. We’re both really, really excited about the upcoming Berlinale - Berlin's film festival – it’s a huge event over here and we can’t wait to get seriously square eyes...but more about that next time.

There was unfortunately a sad event recently as Kirsten’s aunt passed away. It was of course a very sad time for Kirsten and her family, but we got to visit her a couple of times and had long chats and cups of tea and the chance to say goodbye.

We hope you’re all well wherever you are, viele Grüße from us to you,
bis nächstes Mal,

Simon and Kirsten.