As simple as possible – and no simpler
Posted on 13. Aug, 2009 by Reed Schuler in U.S.A., Uncategorized
Graceful summarizing the progress of 2,000 people arguing about literally thousands of separate issues on scores of major topics on a number of different negotiating tracks is tough.
That’s it for the disclaimer – on to the graceless summaries!
Atmosphere of negotiations according to sources on the ground (which doesn’t include me at the moment, sadly). Quiet. [...]
A FAB Agreement
Posted on 11. Aug, 2009 by Reed Schuler in Adopt a Negotiator, U.S.A.
Bonn 3 has begun. So far, it’s not quite as dramatic as its movie-sequel title would have you believe – though it ought to be. The pacing of negotiations is invariably a source of frustration for participants and observers alike.
For the main annual negotiating events (the “Conferences of the Parties,” or COPs), the momentum tends [...]
Stonecutting in Bonn
Posted on 07. Aug, 2009 by Reed Schuler in Adopt a Negotiator, U.S.A.
Negotiators are returning next week to where I last tracked them – Bonn, Germany.
They’ll be working to “digest” the “indigestible” – massage a 200-page negotiating text, dense with contradictory and extraneous clauses, into a working document from which the rest of the negotiations may proceed.
In June, the document began with 50 pages. Country negotiating delegations [...]
The Art of the Possible
Posted on 22. Jul, 2009 by Reed Schuler in Uncategorized
Not quite a month ago, the House passed Waxman-Markey (American Clean Energy & Security Act – ACES), landmark climate change legislation establishing a cap-and-trade system to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
This wasn’t as easy as it looked. There was furious, dramatic finger-pointing, horse-trading, and more horse-trading. When the dust cleared, the bill had passed by an [...]
Concessions
Posted on 12. Jun, 2009 by Reed Schuler in U.S.A.
The United States is no longer demanding a binding emissions cap for China, Todd Stern announced this week.
Instead, the US is looking for continuing actions along the lines of the actions they have been taking, which I’ve been told are viewed by the administration as comparable effort in a number of areas, from vehicle performance [...]
Tensions
Posted on 11. Jun, 2009 by Reed Schuler in U.S.A., Uncategorized
By the second-to-last day at the Bonn talks, a few tensions have emerged.
First, there’s an interesting tension between transparency and secrecy.
On the one hand, we at the Adopt-a-Negotiator project are firmly committed to transparency. We really believe that by sharing information and engaging citizens, we can have a positive impact on an important policy [...]
State of the Union
Posted on 08. Jun, 2009 by Reed Schuler in Adopt a Negotiator, U.S.A.
The tracking has gotten so intense that Jonathan Pershing has fled the country.
More accurately, Pershing left to participate in bilateral talks with the Chinese government in Beijing, my offers to suggest good restaurants rebuffed.
Along with Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change, and a number of others, the team will be confronting one of the [...]
Jonathan Speaks
Posted on 03. Jun, 2009 by Reed Schuler in U.S.A., Uncategorized
The first thing that hits you about about America’s lead negotiator at this talk, Jonathan Pershing, is that he’s ridiculously smart, even compared to his peer group of very smart negotiators. A friend who used to work for him told me “Jonathan is the only person I know who speaks with punctuation and in complete [...]
The Face of America
Posted on 01. Jun, 2009 by Reed Schuler in Adopt a Negotiator, U.S.A.
Meet Jonathan Pershing, the Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change for the United States.
Now, the head of the US climate negotiating team isn’t Pershing but Todd Stern, the Special Envoy on Climate Change (no qualifiying “deputy” in his title). Within the strange reality of these negotiations, however, Todd will, if we’re lucky, drop by for [...]