You may be wondering what happened to Day 14. There is a day 14 blog, written early yesterday morning, but I have not yet published it. I should explain why.
Yesterday’s meting was rather exciting. A certain country with significant emissions, supported by another country with large fossil-fuel exports, attempted to stop observers and all but a few countries from speaking about common time frames for NDCs (see Blogs on Day 2 and Day 10 for more about this topic). This understandably incensed nations who wished to speak. One such nation even accused the blocking nations of being “disrespectful”. That’s about has inflammatory as diplomats ever get.
Naturally, I wanted to write about this and about the possible motives for such aggressive attempts to slow progress. So I did. However, before publishing, I sought the advice of our delegation lead on the advisability of calling out specific nations over their clear attempts to delay climate action. As observers, we have been asked to be respectful to all parties and to observe “Chatham House rules” by not being too specific about such issues. Obviously, negotiation is a delicate process and diplomacy is not usually well-served by bovine occupation of porcelain emporiums.
The delegation lead’s response was even less printable than my own and his instinct was to call-out the nations involved. But sometimes the head does need to rule the heart and so we’re giving it some thought. If a Day 14 blog appears in the next few days, you’ll know we’ve gone with our hearts.
Dave Waltham