Carbon and G20; all talk and no action

The first in a series of guest posters, Vikki Chowney from BitchBuzz talks about her experiences as a guest blogger at the G20 summit, recently held in London.

I’d always assumed that one of the main reasons I’d been asked to join the G20Voice project was my interest in climate change and the reduction of carbon that is apparent within my day-to-day blogging, as well as my evangelism of Global Cool. One of the main goals for The London Summit was to discuss the effect of both of these issues on the economy and to report on what would be put in place to help deal with the results.

I arrived at Westminster Hall the day before The Summit hoping that hearing from Oxfam, Save the Children and ONE.org would crystallise which questions I really wanted to ask the G20 leaders. As it turned out, talking to the other bloggers and hearing what those with the same objectives had in mind proved just as fruitful. I found that many of us were either humanitarians or focussed on the economy specifically, but few were there with the environment in mind.

In hindsight (it’s a beautiful thing), my expectancy to see or be privy to discussions about real change at The Summit itself was a little naïve. Though many of my blogger colleagues believed that it wouldn’t happen, I remained positive that I’d walk away feeling at least a little placated.

After discussions about International Trade throughout the morning, the pivotal moment of the day for me was a briefing with Ed Miliband – one of the ‘sibling saviours’ of the Labour party – and the only Minister billed as covering climate change specifically at the event. G20 Voice descended on mass to the session, as although climate change wasn’t a primary focus to all, it was a topic dear to many of our hearts. Unfortunately, as I sat making notes, I found myself typing ‘highly significant’ more than anything else.

The main bulk of his formal briefing, unlike the others I sat in, seemed a little rushed and he appeared fairly underprepared. He talked several times about being confident that we would ‘see agreements pointing toward reaching a decision in Copenhagen’ within the communiqué (referring to the UN Climate Conference in December of this year). But really, isn’t this just agreeing to agree that we need to do something, instead of committing to actually do it?

I’m sure he was extremely busy, but I did feel that he could have provided more concrete direction as to what the outcomes of the carbon and environmental discussions had or would be. It was the same story throughout the five minute question and answer session with the roomful of journalists and bloggers, and I walked away disappointed.

As I sat back at my work station post-briefing, I sensed a small scrum happening behind me. After the Bob Geldof fiasco in the morning, during which I was almost knocked out by a reporter (before being saved by a Channel 4 cameraman), I was loathed to turn around. However, much to my delight, Mr Miliband was indeed sat right behind me, engaging with the G20Voice bloggers in a one-on-one session.

After several very key questions from Todd Lucier, I got the chance to ask Mr Miliband the question that had been playing on my mind since his official time with the press;

“It’s obviously very positive that world leaders have agreed that carbon needs to be high on the agenda, but do you not feel that we need to put aside concrete and measurable funds to allow climate change to be dealt with? It’s all very well saying that we’ll work towards agreeing on actions in Copenhagen, but if we don’t assign funds now  (while they are being ‘dealt out’, as such) it may too late?”

Now, I’ve referred to Copenhagen above, but feel like I need to give this a little perspective. There are actually a number of climate conferences throughout 2009; the first of which is the World Business Summit in May of this year, hosted by The Copenhagen Climate Council. This is comprised of 30 global leaders from business, science, and policy that are dedicated to creating awareness of the importance of COP15 (the UN conference to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009) where world leaders will meet to agree on a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

COP15 is a two-week Summit that will inevitably affect the fate of the planet. If nothing gets agreed upon at this meeting, our entire future is at risk. So needless to say, it’s a pretty big deal.

After a repetition of the question, or more accurately, the question Mr Miliband hoped I was asking, he completely agreed with me. He noted that yes, it was vital to put funds in place to help countries struggling to respond and deal with the effects of climate carbon. This is indeed true, but it’s not really what I was asking. I was asking about the allocation of funds across the board, within the G20 network itself, to help everyone tackle the elimination of climate change, not the results of it.

I found myself describing the work of Global Cool over the course of The Summit as making climate change more accessible through practical initiatives, instead of fundraising alone. And this underpins my whole issue with the way carbon was dealt with on the day.

Though it was raised (albeit as an after thought) by both Brown and Obama, it did feel as if climate change was simply tacked onto the agenda instead of being approached head on. A lot was achieved that day, including dedicating $50 billion to world aid and countries in desperate need, but I wanted to see carbon approached in the same way – with measurable and solid funds attached. Even though I think his hands were tied before Brown’s ‘big announcement’ on the day, I’ll be watching Mr Miliband again in Copenhagen, and hope to see some strong objectives put in place this time around.

Vikki Chowney

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