The last night draws on

by Samuli Sinisalo The texts just presented were not accepted by the Group of 77 and China. Later EU also denounced the documents. Canada had called more ambition from China and India. This was done by name, which is not very politically correct - especially from a country like Canada, which has notoriously low ambition. They were just awarded the fossil of the year award from being the biggest...

BASIC makes Room for an Elephant

by Joe Perullo BASIC (the group of Brazil, South African, India, and China) gave a rather uncomfortable press conference the other day.  China, the leader of the group, started the talk on the defensive, denying the major "rumor" floating around that BASIC is splitting up. The other countries complied and also denied the allegations. An elephant walked into the room. The EU and the US have...

The Last Night in Durban

by Samuli Sinisalo A lot has happened today, I hope. Everything that is going on takes place behind closed doors, so we have no way of accurately reporting it the play by play. The ministerial Inbada started just few minutes ago, and that will hopefully bring some clarity to the situation. So far there are two draft texts presented by the COP presidency, to conclude the work in Durban. Text from...

Mic check. Mic check. Youth intervention (English and Spanish version of the speech)

This morning Anjali gave the intervention to the high-level segment COP plenary on behalf of youth. Standing on the podium, and looming large on the screen, she launched right in. I speak for more than half the world's population. We are the silent majority. You've given us a seat in this hall, but our interests are not on the table. What does it take to get a stake in this game?...

Getting a movement going

by Graham Reeder So after two weeks of singing and dancing in designated, coordinated, preapproved, action spaces, the official youth constituency just made their first risky move at this COP. Anjali delivered a powerful high-level plenary intervention about how the youth are being failed and how developed countries are to blame for delay on ambitious climate action, and the youth followed it up...