Its time to step up Australia!
Posted on 08. Oct, 2010 by Philip Ireland in Australia
Today an article I wrote on an interview with Louise Hand, Australia’s lead climate negotiator was posted on ABC’s The DRUM.
Australia's seat and the China climate talks | Phil Ireland
Here are some excepts….
“Talking with Australia’s head of delegation in China I had the opportunity to get a handle on Australia’s negotiating position in our new political context.
Louise Hand is Australia’s Ambassador on Climate Change and our lead negotiator. Her comments provide a unique insight into Australia’s game plan as we move towards Cancun.
The day we organised to meet was the second day of the negotiations and a busy one. The first day was largely filled with the formalities that occupy the opening of UN events, and today was start of the gritty business. In the morning a senior negotiator from a different delegation commented to me that in terms of the negotiations “there were blue skies yesterday… but today we can’t see far at all”.
In our meeting Louise was more optimistic. She sought to draw attention to the positive and hopeful signs around the negotiations. In particular, a series of workshops the Australian government has been hosting around greenhouse gas mitigation.
I have attended a couple of these forums and they provide a space for countries to outline domestic action they are taking outside the auspices of the official negotiations. Louise suggested that the Australian delegation is playing an “advocacy role to seek progressive action by all countries.”
In terms of expected outcomes both at Tianjin and Cancun, Louise said “Australia will work towards a balanced package” said Louise. This seems to be the new word moving around the negotiations, “balance”. Alas, its innocent and friendly exterior is accompanied by a range of very different, and at times contradictory, understandings. Everyone wants a balanced package it seems – though many are still talking about the goodies on their side of the scales, not their neighbours’.
But Louise insisted that Australia is clear on what constitutes balance. She said “it’s something that captures the mitigation commitments of the major economies, provides a broad range of generous and timely assistance to developing countries and has a robust environmental impact”.
On the critical question of whether Australia is acting as a leader I didn’t get the upbeat answer I expected……”
You can read the full article at http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/39800.html
Stay tuned as we enter the final days of the negotiations in Tianjin, China.
Tracking for you,
Phil
Thanks again Phil for an informative blog and article.. It’s good to hear that there is some good stuff happening at the Tianjin talks that Australia is a part of. Although it sounds as if for any big decisions to be made at Cancun there will have to be some more serious progress made. Let’s hope Australia can do more than constructively engage and instead be a leader in reaching a fair, ambitious and binding target!
*deal
Thanks Hannah. I appreciate your kind words : )