My first date with an Ambassador

Thanks for the update Phil.

No news here is definitely not good news for our climate future.

I agree with Mike, if the negotiators are stuck with a limited mandate then it looks like its up to us to point out to our friends in the Federal Government the costs of their political shortsightedness. Their failure to take strong action now is risking people’s lives, especially in developing coutries ill equipped to deal with the consequences of a changing climate.

Sad to hear that we should not hope for better 24% when almost every day more science is coming out pointing towards 40% being the lowest safe option for targets! And scary too, that so many conditions will need to be met for us to even make the 24%. I can’t imagine how a country like Australia with one of the biggest footprints in the world could offer just 4% as an unconditional target. Here’s hoping that all the stars align and at least allow us to to commit to the higher range.

It’s good to hear however that the Government is considering the urgent issue of climate financing. What would be even better is some numbers on the table, AND a commitment for this financing to be over and above the already committed to 0.5% of aid by 2015. Come on Australia, there’s no more time to delay! We need bold and courageous action now to ensure that justice is done, for people around the world now, and for all future generations!

Hey phil..

It’s great to see you getting info straight from the negotiating team! It makes me a little sad that it seems that they want to do better, but are limited by the short-term-ism of our Government.

Thanks for keeping us updated! I guess we better get busy hassling Mr Rudd and Co.

Mike

Good on you Phil…keep up the schmoozing with your friend the Ambassador.

Touting the line of “the Australian Government is committed to action that would keep CO2 emmissions in the atmosphere below 450ppm or lower”…knowing full well this is nonsense and not achievable with the current 4-24% targets….floors me. Why does no-one point out the nakedness of that Emperor?

Hi Phil
Thanks for the update. Not great news. It seems that our negotiators have little room to negotiate. At least it encourages all of us to lobby our leaders.

Can we stop the climate curse,
Or will things go from bad to worse?

The UN negotiators are on the mill,
Like hamsters running on a wheel,
Creating lots of sweat but still,
Rolling backwards down a hill.

In Bali leaders talked of killing off the climate devils,
They swore they would do their all, to bring down emission levels.
But ambitions now have dropped from a 40% cut to a 24 at best.
Surely they must know that this will fail the climate test.

We must now make every effort to tell our leaders how we feel,
If we want to keep the planet safe, they need to keep it real.
We have the ink we have the quill, we now just need the political will,
To sign a safe and fair and solid, binding climate deal.

The simple truth is we all must act, with pure determination,
To demand action from our politicians or face mass extermination,

Hi Phil..
thanks for the blog! I can’t say it was particularly uplifting to read though:( I can’t believe that our government isn’t even open to the suggestion of anything higher than 24% on 1990 levels… for a country to be in such a privileged position globally it is completely wrong and immoral to be taking the track it seems Australia is.

But it is encouraging that financing for mitigation and adaptation is still being thought about, we have to put the pressure on to see a good outcome with that.

good luck for the rest of the week!

Thanks all for your comments! Beleive it or not the ambassador just walked pass me and said hello holding a print our of the blog with your comments. : )

Hey Phil,

Thanks for the update. Keep up the pressure, it seems we all need to! Currently writing a letter to Ms Wong to express my embarrassment at our targets and provide some encouragement to give our negotiators room to go harder.

Thanks for your update Phil! Great to hear the news direct from the talks, and from the government delegation.

I echo the sentiments of everyone above and will be stepping up my lobbying of the Australian government. Right now, their positions don’t gaurantee a safe future for any us.

Yesterday I posted a letter to my Federal MP, Malcolm Turnbull, to the Prime Minister as well as Minister Wong with a photo of me at the 350 event I attended on October 24 and a letter detailing why I want to see our government develop climate policies in line with stabilising carbon in the atmosphere to 350ppm.

Phil, keep up the pressure in Barcelona and I look forward to reading more of your blogs!

I would find this report really troubling if it weren’t for my already low expectations of these negotiations. That’s because the Australia government has set the bar so low that it will be a miracle if we get any kind of reasonable commitment from them. This government has yet to take this issue serious. The life of hundreds of millions of people is in the hands of the worlds leaders. Will Kevin Rudd go down in history as a great saviour and leader or as a mass murder that buckled to the will of big polluters and greed?

Will he do the right thing or will he put big screen TV’s and all the other luxury stuff our economy provides ahead of the lives of little children who’s families don’t even own a light bulb let alone all the other stuff we buy to satisfy our greed.

Will he do the right thing? I doubt it!

hi there..
thanks for the informative blog… it’s all a bit outrageous. So much has been going on here in Australia to try and make our government see what we think is fair, but it seems like they haven’t even noticed.
good to hear you’re able to have some one on one meetings.
I hope there’s a good outcome for climate financing and mitigation!

Hi Phil. Great that you got to meet with Louise. It would seem that these negotiations are living up to their expectations and that nothing new is being discussed. Are negotiaters such as Louise doing everything within their power to push for a level such as 40% or are they critical of such targets? Thanks for keeping us updated.

Thanks Phil for this post, and everyone for your comments

It would be harrowing for the Australian government to stick to the line of 4 – 24% throughout these negotiations
- stuck in a perspective so limited in its timescale and its reach beyond ourselves, stuck under the influence of industries that oppose change, and stuck in a view of the science that is now indefensible – repeating statements of 4-24% = 450ppm = 2 degrees, when our understanding of the climate system and the consequences of change have moved so much further.
Even if we could see 2 degrees as acceptable (despite its dangers), we now know that 450ppm has a much higher chance of leading to warming of 4 C or more.
- Including science published BY the Department of Climate Change itself!
Steffen, W. (2009) “Climate change 2009: Faster change & more serious risks”, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Canberra, May 2009
http://www.anu.edu.au/climatechange/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/climate-change-faster-change-and-more-serious-risks-final.pdf

We would be insane to accept the consequences of these policies for ourselves,
and it is inconscionable to accept what they will do to other lives and the environment we share.

Let’s push Rudd, Wong and Swan to give our negotiators a decent platform!

What about science? Whatever happened to reason?

Hi all,
Thanks once again for all your comments. I want to make a quick reply to David’s Question “Are negotiaters such as Louise doing everything within their power to push for a level such as 40% or are they critical of such targets?”
Its a good question… it is really hard to know. I think if the Government was to announce higher targets the negotiating team would really enjoy announcing them here. It would bring Australia a lot of popularity (in a strange UNFCCC kind of way). Are they pushing the government though? I don’t know.

I am probably meeting with the Ambassador this morning and will ask her myself.
Thanks for the question!

Hi,
I was wondering if you could perhaps pass along my greetings to Louise Hand (being her child, I know she would appreciate it and perhaps it would be an incentive for her to meet with you more often) during your next meeting with her.
Keep up the tracking!
Thanks, Livvy
p.s my sister says to tell you, that in terms of your future tshirt choices, ms hand appreciates pastels, delicate florals and stained glass hues

Ha! great to hear from you Livvy. I will indeed pass along your greetings. Thanks for the help : )

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Thanks Phil for doing this. It’s great. I have participated actively in the UN Commission on sustainable Development for past 12 years. This Tracking Initiative is great. Now we have to link it with Educational/Advocacy Campaigns with all of the Tck Tck Tck signers, etc.

Louise Hand is right – the directives usually come down from the top, which as we know are also then influenced by corporate lobbyists. However, if we are bold enough with our statements to government delegations and encourage them to push their own administrations and couple this with strong advocacy campaigns then I think we will begin to see more shifts.

Thanks again,

Rob

NiksHIVY 5 You are not right. I am assured. I can prove it.

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