UN climate summit prepares to host world leaders from more than 90 countries tomorrow
In an attempt to get to the venue a bit early, I decided to ditch the tram and try the special Cop31 buses. This was a bad decision.
We have just reached the two-and-a-half-hour mark on the bus and are still crawling through Antalya traffic. New friendships are being spawned in here. We are starting to eat each other’s food.
I want to thank Philippa Bayley from Groundwork for the walnut and chocolate biscuits she snaffled from her hotel buffet.
Exceptional, which is more than I can say for the traffic.
Good morning from Turkey and welcome to the second day of Cop31 , the UN gathering that is taking place, again, to help prod indolent countries clear of catastrophic planetary heating.
A lot of angst was vented on the first day of the summit over whether this goal is being achieved, and even if Cop is the best forum in which to achieve it. Perhaps sensing the fractured, distracted geopolitical mood, Chris Bowen, Australia’s climate minister and Cop negotiations chief, plaintively urged countries to “show the world that multilateralism works. Let’s show the world we are equal to the challenge.”
Further evidence, if it was needed, was unveiled yesterday showing the world is failing rather badly in this challenge to stem its growing fever. But research published this morning shows carbon emissions from fossil fuels are falling slightly, and there is still hope here in Antalya that things can change. If not then, well, what are we all doing here? Right?
About 100,000 delegates crammed into the well-tended conference venue yesterday and the long queues for registration badges led the UN to plead for people to return for them today if attendance on Monday wasn’t compulsory.
Tuesday will lay the groundwork for the arrival tomorrow of leaders from more than 90 countries, with notable absentees including the heads of the US and China. Today’s theme is “energy and transport, touching on a key goal of this Cop to get the world to agree to greatly increase the share of energy used via electricity”. That power will, hopefully, be clean.
Let’s see how close to consensus the world will be on that. At the very least, the Turkish baked goods promise to be delicious and there is some tasteful art constructed of discarded waste to look at. Onwards.
