COP19 – Day Six

The middle Saturday of the UN climate change talks are known for two things: the people’s march, and the NGO party. This year was no different.

Over a thousand people from the conference and also from neighbouring European countries participated in the March. Banners displayed messages of solidarity for the Philippines, and demands for “system change not climate change”. Faces were adorned with “time = up”. The message was clear and simple: do not forget that this is our future you are negotiating . Perhaps they’re listening, even if it isn’t yet reflected in the negotiations.

Here’s what else happened:

After a sluggish morning, parties met for an informal ADP stocktaking plenary. Co-chair Kumarsingh identified that one of the goals for Warsaw is for substantial progress to be made on elements for the 2015 agreement and clarity on pre-2020 ambition. Progress is occurring on both, but much work still needs to be done. Singapore and Norway called on parties to define a clear path forward for the 2015 agreement. A draft decision text is being worked on to be circulated this week.

The two subsidiary bodies were supposed to officially close their sessions during the afternoon. To no one’s surprise, they did not due to a divergence on agenda items. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) stream was finally successful in closing, albeit doing so at 3am. Progress was made on most issues, with the necessary draft decisions being forwarded to the COP this coming week.

The Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) was not so successful. Chair Chruszczow suspended the meeting at 5:30am on Sunday morning, after reaching an epiphany that quorum could not be reached. The SBI will reconvene on Monday in the hope that something will be different, this is likely to happen. It’s highly unlikely that the talks will close by Friday evening though, and are likely to run overtime.

In other news, the Climate Action Network organised a party for observers and delegates to wind-down after a long week and informally lobby one another.

The high-level segment starts this Monday, with ministers pouring into Warsaw for difficult and contentious talks, particularly around the hard issues of the 2015 agreement, finance, and loss and damage. Let’s hope week two is more successful than week one.

By Kahil Lloyd, photo by Bogusz Bilewski via Greenpeace Polska.