Bonn to Paris: On the way to the Promised land

Negotiations here in Bonn are now down to their final hours. After almost a week of drama, fights and tense nights, we are now into the last day.

Last night, negotiators ended their 4th day with a tense reflection on the lack of progress made so far, but you could also feel a sense of peace.

It’s almost that same feeling a week before your first marathon. You can’t help but be stressed. But if you have been training regularly, you get that feeling that of readiness.

When I ran my first marathon, I was scared, and nervous, and definitely quick to react.

But I had that same sense that I feel here - we are ready.

According to Hunter Cutting from Climate Nexus, “negotiations have run out of steam here, but are heading in the right direction.”

We are now ready for ministers and heads of state to step in.” Hunter even believed that we were ready “by Tuesday morning”.

When I asked Hunter about how he was feeling about the negotiations, he surprised me with just how positive he was feeling.

“I think we’re well on the way to a deal worth having”.

He said this while reflecting on his years as an advocate and campaigner. When I first came into the Climate Change negotiations, Hunter was a one of those guys I looked up to. It seemed that no matter what state the negotiations were in, his mind was always up to the task of translating what we needed to communicate back to the world.

It might be this ability to separate his mind and his emotions which has made him so effective. When asked how he felt about the state of the negotiations this week, he highlighted how our current political environment gave him the confidence that we are on an “acceptable track” towards Paris, even if his emotions were rumbling.

“At the start of the week, I think my mind was he was at an 8…We have China and the US on the table,” he said. “Even though my emotions were at about a 6”, Hunter still believed we were on course.

Today, Hunter still feels this positive energy. While he recognises that there are still grave concerns about core issues of the negotiations, and that his “bar is pretty low”, he described our current spot as “journeying towards the Promised Land”.

“In your life, you can never stop fighting, and Paris isn’t going to be the Promised Land. We will have to fight for years to come, but Paris is going to be an important stop along the way”.

One key issue we’ll have to fight for will be finance. Developing countries still feel isolated and need clear signals that they will have the kind of long term support to deal with the impacts of Climate Change. At this stage, that clarity isn’t there, especially after 2020.

“Pre-2020 finance has taken up a lot of the attention, and we have quite a big hole in the post-2020 finance, and these conversations are not rich enough.

We have ideas about cycles and updates that will need to respond to the changing world…but I feel like these demands aren’t translating into the text.

This is where we need leaders to get involved to help manage climate change in a way that takes care of citizens”. - Luisa Casson, E3G

In fact, there are many here who feel that we are still a long way away from any sense of “balance” or “ambition”.

But for now, I think its a good time to take a leaf out of Hunter’s epic Climate book, and realise again, that we may in fact be stepping a little closer to the “Promised Land” than we ever have been before.

Yesterday the UAE committed to increasing its current Renewable Energy stocks over 120x during the next 6 years. Is this a sign that Paris could indeed be our Nile, and the seas are beginning to part?

Listen here for the full Daily Tck Livestream from Day 5 in Bonn