Behind the scenes at Ban Ki-moon’s climate summit: The view from New York
Wreathed in red and clutching her microphone tightly, a nervous Natasha Bedingfield surveyed what must have been the oddest audience in her brief career. The British pop star was an unusual choice to wrap up what was a fairly extraordinary UN climate summit, held in and around its headquarters alongside New York’s East River.
“Love is a powerful thing”, she told the remaining delegates inside the sumptuous General Assembly hall, who were probably as surprised as she was to see her on stage. In many ways her appearance summed up this meeting. Eye-catching, full of endeavour and high notes, ending with little tangible to take home, bar the memories.
Image - Ban Ki -moon Opens Climate Summit (note)Ban Ki-moon opens the climate summit. Credit: UN Photos
That may sound unfair, given the bombardment of low carbon pledges from governments, businesses and foundations built on oil money over the best part of 48 hours. By the time he had finished his closing summary, just before Natasha swept onto the podium, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon could proudly say the summit had seen progress on forests, cities, finance and much more.
How much of this money was new, and how many of these plans – some of which seemed hastily cobbled together – will withstand scrutiny is likely to become clear in the next few days.
In particular, I’ll be interested to dig a little deeper into the World Bank’s carbon pricing announcement – which on the face of it looked stunning: over 70 countries operating or planning to operate a carbon tax or market. And as Oxfam’s climate finance expert, Tim Gore, remarked, France’s $1 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund looks good, but the country has previous on offering money in the form of loans, not grants. Not quite the same thing.
But encouraging such statements was perhaps a necessary sweetener to get more than 120 world leaders to attend an event many would rather have avoided. Politicians obviously prefer taking part in events where they will leave looking good.
And with world leaders taking the limelight, other, less visible meetings could take place away from the glare of the media.
Image - Obama Addresses UN Climate Summit (note)President Obama addresses the summit. Credit: UN Photos
For instance, foreign ministers from the 17 countries comprising the Major Economies Forum, a group representing over 80 per cent of global emissions, met in New York on Sunday. They were joined for the day by Tony de Brum, representing the Marshall Islands.
The US and China delegations also took part in a series of structured bilateral meetings. US officials likewise met UK and EU negotiating teams.
France and Peru, hosts of the next two climate summits, also set up meetings between their presidents, doubtless keen to try and avoid any hiccups before countries attempt to formulate a binding climate deal in 2015.
The White House’s lead climate official John Podesta worked the gloomy 1970s-era corridors most of the day, as did former model turned activist Bianca Jagger, who could be seen waving her stick at one poor suited soul. Business leaders like Unilever’s Paul Polman were everywhere – chatting at one point to the UN’s top climate official Rajendra Pachauri, then addressing government officials at a private sector lunch.
Small island leaders were also on the warpath, aggressively seeking out meetings to explain how their countries are slipping beneath the waves.
And last night, at an event hosted by the UK prime minister’s envoy on climate change Greg Barker at the cloud-scraping Hearst building, more quiet talks took place between governments, media and NGOs over “sustainable chicken” and a rather pleasant chardonnay.
What struck me was the feeling that events like this don’t happen much. And in an age of Skype and Whatsapp we often forget the value of face to face meetings. The personal touch.
Diplomats meet their counterparts frequently. Some, like the UK’s lead climate bureaucrat Pete Betts, must spend their lives shuttling between capitals. But these people don’t make the decisions – they facilitate them. The fact that political teams – for one day – immersed themselves in the issue, and perhaps realised that they are not alone in facing this challenge, may pay off.
The UK’s energy and climate secretary Ed Davey told me he was genuinely impressed by what he termed a change in US and Chinese thinking on these issues. His view was influenced by meetings he had in New York.
Image - Di Caprio Addresses UN Climate Summit (note)Actor, advocate, and all-round hairy guy Leo DiCaprio addresses the summit. Credit: UN Photos
Most of the leaders had long departed by the time Bedingfield hit the UN. Perhaps that was for the best: a picture of a bored looking Obama might have terminated her career.
But any real progress from this barmy event will likely be found not in the announcements still dropping into my inbox. Instead, it will be in the private emails between leaders who perhaps now understand this issue – and each other – a little better.
Earlier in the day, the UN’s former top climate official Yvo de Boer told me that he hoped Ban Ki-moon might convene a similar event this time next year, months ahead of the Paris deal. He said countries were waking from a climate “coma”, and perhaps needed some intensive care.
“I think that would be a perfect opportunity to really focus leaders at that moment in time on the key political issues that need to be resolved,” he said.
Natasha: don’t turn your phone off.
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For those that are interested, here’s a very low quality video of Natasha Bedingfield’s performance. Enjoy.