COP19 – Day Four

Thursday was “Young and Future Generations Day” celebrating the role of young people at the UN climate change talks. The high – and to some, low – light of the the day was the annual intergenerational inquiry featuring ADP co-chair Kishan Kumarsingh; France’s ambassador for climate change Jacques Lapouge; UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi; UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres; and two youth delegates – Nathan Niedermeier and Sylvia Yirenkyi.

The question and answer segment sparked controversy when a young person asked Figueres about an incident last Monday. Three delegates were de-badged over an unsanctioned action where they accompanied Philippines chief negotiator Yeb Saño out of the opening plenary session carrying signs. Figueres explained that she understood the frustration of delegates over the punishment, but she said that there is little she can do.

In response to this, some youth delegates walked out of the session, disappointed with Figueres’s answer. “We walked out because Christiana continued to not directly address the issue of three youth thrown out because of solidarity with the Philippines,” Katie O’Brien from Earth in Brackets said. Relations between some elements of the youth delegation and the secretariat are at an all-time low during this COP. This is a disappointing development, given that Figueres has been a strong advocate for youth since her appointment and this may not have been a strategic move.

In other news, the Coal Summit was put back front and centre. COP President Marcin Korolec said that for an agreement in 2015, there needs to be a “transparent and inclusive process [and] one element of this inclusiveness is the invitation for the business community to be a part of this dialogue [in a much broader sense than occurred in previous times]”.

When asked directly about the COP flirting with heavy industry – coal and steel – Korolec dismissed the criticism. “I meet all of the partners who are not parties to the convention,” he said. Civil society have been far from happy this conference – but surely they didn’t think the COP presidency was going to capitulate over it.

Negotiations are progressing with the usual array of contact groups, informal consultations and workshops progressing under all five work-streams. In the ADP, parties met to discuss the future of technology development and transfer, as well as long-term finance for the 2015 agreement. The general mood of the ADP is that progress is moving slowly, and parties agree to the general principle that they need to build on existing institutions, but are struggling to find convergence on exactly how these concepts should be entrenched in the new agreement.

The end of the first week is fast approaching, with the two subsidiary bodies scheduled to close Saturday. Many delegates have back-to-back meetings, and are struggling to stay across all of the draft texts and negotiations.

Let’s hope that there is enough coffee (or vodka) to help them through the next couple of days.

By Kahil Lloyd, photo by IISD.