Posted by Daniel, political advisor in Bali

Here we are again - the globalization bubble of hotels, hotels and western chain stores that is the very southern tip of the island of Bali. The military is also already here - cruising along the beach for our "security". Like many who will be heading to the global climate negotiations, I have been here before. Five years ago, the World Summit on Sustainable Development was being prepared here. A statistic that scares me. We have only little more than 5 years - around 7 - left to make global emissions peak. If I think about how little has yet happened on the commitments - meagre as they were - governments made at Johannesburg - I despair. But, hopefully, 2007 and climate change is different. Hopefully we can build on the momentum that has been built over the last few months. Hopefully, we can build on the science, the public pressure, the UN leadership and the fact that Australia is now joining the club of supporters of the Kyoto Protocol - the only legally binding international agreement to cut emissions we have.

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

The music was pretty cheesy. But when it was over, the UN climate negotiations were formally started. At last. The most important two weeks in (climate) diplomacy over the last decade are now under way. David Mwiraria, Kenya's environment minister, found the right words. Climate action is not as strong and fast as the emergency we face demands, he said, and appealed to delegates that "negotiations need to speed up." Indeed, they must. So why, you wonder, do we have to sit through minutes and minutes of Bali tourism advertising in the opening session (though the movie did apparently relate to a Bali event against climate change)? It reminded us of what we will not see - as we sit in a huge, window-less room, sweating ... This ain't no holiday and now the Head of the UNFCCC is speaking - so I better listen. You can listen to him too - here.

By Gavin, climate campaign leader

It's day one of the climate negotiations here in Bali, and time for world governments to stop posturing and start putting major solutions to climate change in place.

One of the key outcomes that we need to see from this meeting is that governments have to set much stronger targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol was a good start in laying the basis for governments to get to grips with measuring and reducing emissions. But it must be strengthened going forward. This is because efforts to combat climate change need to keep the planet below two degrees Celsius in order to prevent dangerous climate change. And that means halving emissions globally by 2050. Therefore industrialized countries must agree to begin negotiations for a cut in their emissions by 30 percent by 2020 in order to shoulder their fair share of the responsibility. These numbers are big, but our research shows that they are possible with the right political will.

Third time’s the charm! Our next action finds us in southern Italy outside the town of Brindisi. We have delivered a one-two punch to coal in our last action of the tour. It began on Friday with an action at the biggest CO2 polluter in Italy, Brindisi Sud power station. This coal burning behemoth belches out 15 million tons of global warming pollution every year. Our Italian office and their intrepid climbers infiltrated the site to hang banners and label this plant the #1 climate killer in Italy.

The second part of our action is underway today in the water. After laying in wait for two days outside of the port of Brindisi, we launched a team of our activists this morning to deliver a message to the delegates convening in Bali, Indonesia for a UN climate conference: quit coal! If we want to save the climate and stop dangerous climate change, we have to stop burning coal. Delegates in Bali need to heed this message and support alternatives that will protect our climate over the long term. That means halting the expansion of coal in favor of clean energy technologies, such as wind and solar, and investing in efficiency measures that ensure we cut energy waste. We can do it. To find out more, check out our Energy [R]evolution.

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

Yvo de Boer, the head of the UNFCCC has done a lot to move the global climate negotiations forward. No questions about that. But yesterday he shocked me by - at the opening ceremony of all places - strongly endorsing fossil fuels and putting a lot of hope in making dirty fuels a little cleaner (you can listen to his speech here). This, to put it midly, is unhelpful. The fossil fuel industry, which made record profits in recent years, hardly needs de Boer's pity. It is the industry, that caused the problem we are dealing with here in the first place (as you all know, but Yvo seemed to have forgotten for a moment). Fossil fuels will not be gone tomorrow, true. But if we want to fight climate change, we need to move beyond them. At Bali governments should commit to ending all subsidies for fossil fuels - which are still massive. Institutions like the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank like to talk about how much money they spend on renewables. But they also still fund the climate problem - with much bigger sums! If we are serious about climate change, we must do all we can to invest in energy efficiency and sustainable renewable energies. If we do that, we can cut emissions from the power sector by 50%. Without unproven technologies such as 'Carbon Capture and Storage' for coal plants (CCS basically amounts to sticking emissions under a rock and hoping they will stay there). Without nuclear power. So, come on Yvo. Clear your head and endorse an energy revolution.

Hi I’m Jo. I’ve swapped my job in Amsterdam, which amongst other things involves sitting behind a computer and talking lots on the phone to sit behind a computer and talk lots on the phone here at the Bali meetings. I’m also running around inside and outside the conference for the next two weeks; coordinating media for outside events, such as the Solar festival, and picking up jobs that just need to be done at international conferences. A few examples: making sure we have press releases printed, finding marker pens, getting our Polar Bear to meet journalists and delegates – the usual.

I’m really excited by some of the activities we’ve got coming up – particularly the Rainbow Warrior sailing in with a flotilla of 75 local boats, as part of our call to get everybody out on the global day of action. Working with Solar Generation volunteers is great. It’s really refreshing to spend time with people not caught up in conference politics. As one student told me “we’re not a lobby group, we’re the future.”

Let’s hope delegates at the conference listen and take the decisions we urgently need to set the world on track for the next phase of Kyoto, and the survival of our planet.

By Jo, communications officer, in Bali

I can’t believe today was only the second day of the conference, but then I couldn’t believe yesterday was the first. With over 2,000 journalists, 10,000 delegates, hundreds of side events, press conferences, meetings and stalls- there’s plenty going on all the time.

And it’s seriously hot. I am extremely grateful that I don’t have to wear a suit. And even more so that I’m not a Polar Bear risking his life to be here. P. Bear has been a huge hit, from a star turn at the Solar Festival to unveiling our thermometer yesterday and asking delegates today what is happening to his home, he’s by far the most popular member of the Greenpeace delegation.

The conference is spread across big distances, and the heat makes what should be easy 15 minute walks extremely painful. The UNFCCC have put on free bikes, which is fantastic. Ok, cycling for a long time would be more sweat inducing than walking, and I don’t fancy P. Bear’s chances on a bike, but they turn the walking distances into no time at all. And it’s great to see so many suits biking around.

[Photo: P. Bear with friend. Copyright Greenpeace/Paul Hilton]

By Roman, political advisor, in Bali

The scene was like that of a first day class at an open university taught by a nobel laurate. It was a full house, standing room only, with lines outside the door. Those who were able to make it got an incredible lesson on climate change and forests. This is my first COP/MOP and the first side event I ever helped organize… and i felt lucky to be among those in attendance. Class was most definitely in session.

The Governor of Papua, home of Indonesia's largest remaining tropical rainforests, spoke passionately about his people, the forests they depend on, and the need to protect the climate. He said he “stood with Greenpeace in the effort to protect the earth.” and pledged to protect his forests if the world would only help him do so. Next came Paulo Adario, a Greenpeace legend in the forest campaign and head of our Amazon office. Paulo described the many problems of forest destruction in Brazil as well as Greenpeace’s efforts to end all deforestation in the Amazon by 2015. He concluded his statement with the call: No money, no forests, no climate, no future.

Then came Bill Hare, Greenpeace’s chief climate negotiator and another legend in the organization. Deforestation accounts for an astonishing 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions(!), and Bill unveiled Greenpeace’s proposal on saving forests to protect the climate. We need to protect the forests to save the climate… and protect the climate to save the forests.

All things considered, it was one of the best lessons I’ve ever been a part of.

By Andrew, web producer, in Amsterdam

If you're over the age of 30 there's a safe bet you don't understand Habbo - the largest virtual world for teens. In fact, no one over 30 I've talked to had even heard of it. But the teens in Habbo it's clear that the teens in Habbo do know about climate change, and they get it.

A new survey found that 74 percent of these teens believe global warming is a serious problem and are more concerned about it than any other issue including drugs, violence or war. As one of them said on the US Habbo discussion board:

Our parents and our parents parents have messed this world up for us now we are the ones who have to fix it.

The parents still have time to make a good start though. Let's see that they do in Bali.

Read the survey here, our press release here.

You a Habbo? Wear a green shirt on December 8th, and connect on the "Habbos against climate change discussion boards". Find yours.

By P. Bear, polar bear, in Bali

I’m pretty sure that I’m the first Polar Bear to have ever been to Bali. It’s a beautiful place, and the people are lovely, but to be honest it’s not a climate that suits me. This is my second visit to Kyoto talks – but last time in Montreal was much closer to the Arctic, my home. I’m hot and uncomfortable and a long, long way from the familiar.

By Andrew, web producer, in Amsterdam

This happened last Saturday, but I just saw the video. As you can see, the Greenpeace activists got their giant banner deployed without getting hurt or killed. Great shot in there of one protester passively resisting. That takes serious guts when the guy grabbing you has a machine gun.

This protest was in Indonesia, where 10,000 megawatts of coal power (approximately 10 coal power stations) is planned to be built in the next decade. But despite the risk, activists there are pushing hard for better technology like renewables and more energy efficiency.

There's also a slideshow with the full story on the Greenpeace South East Asia website.

By Andrew, web producer, in Amsterdam

From Jan Rovensky, a Greenpeace Czech campaigner on top of the chimney:

This plant is a symbol of how coal not only threatens the world’s climate but devastates the land and people’s lives. Nearly a hundred villages in the region, including the medieval royal town of Most, have been rased to the ground to make way for coal extraction, displacing a quarter of a million people.

We expect all leaders in Bali, and that goes for those of Czech Republic, to act on public concern about climate change. Our message to them is: Coal is the first item on your ‘Not to do’ list’. Frankly, it’s time to end the coal era.

This coal-fired plant is a symbol of old-fashioned thinking. Protecting the world’s climate requires an immediate end to reliance on coal.

Looks pretty windy up there.

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

Almost a full working week is over at these climate talks. In another week, the end game will start. We will start to have an inkling of whether our efforts here have been worth it. It’s not easy to explain plainly what I and other civil society reps have actually been doing for all the long hours we have spent here at the Convention centre all week. The world of global climate talks is a world of rumour chasing, coffee drinking, constant huddles and meetings – with country delegations, with other NGOs, with the rest of the Greenpeace crowd. Press releases need to be discussed, drafted and then often enough redrafted as the negotiations have already moved on. People who are not at the talks but in national Greenpeace offices need to be kept informed of what’s going on – and motivated to do something, if it happens to be their government that is acting up. There is a fair amount of sitting in big windowless rooms listening to boring speeches, as well. The challenge is to wake up again when something really outrageous happens – and to then react. Countries that are particularly in the way of progress are nominated for the Fossil of the Day awards at the daily Climate Action Network meeting (have a look at the winners so far this week here). A fun way to remind governments that they are being watched. That they will not get away with cooking the climate. That they will take the blame for their (in)actions.

Another way in which we react to the follies of our governments at these international negotiations is through producing our own newsletter – ECO. ECO has a proud tradition – ECO was first produced at the first Earth Summit in Stockholm in 1972. It is produced overnight for delegates to read in the morning – and a remarkable number of them can be seen doing just that. As ECO is for delegates, the language is not that of the tabloids. It’s techy, policy wonkish -but it is always also tongue in cheek … Editing ECO is a licence to be sarcastic.

Posted by Chris Miller, Climate Team Leader, Greenpeace USA at the Bali International Conference Centre

Day four from the Bali UN Climate Conference brought an announcement from the United States delegation. Was it that they had decided to join Australia and become the final industrialized country to ratify the Kyoto Protocol? No. Was it that they were prepared to agree to targets and timelines for emissions reductions and join the Europeans and others in support of a 25% to 40% reduction target by 2020? I am afraid not. Their big announcement was that they have invited the world’s 17 largest greenhouse gas emitters to the second in their series of Major Economies Meetings, or as we like to call it, “The Big Emitters”.

It doesn’t come as a shock that their announcement was process and not substance, but to add insult to injury, they have made clear the meetings WILL NOT lead to country specific reduction targets. It is simply a process to run out the clock on the Bush administrations final year in office. We understand that as of now, while the caterers and hotel rooms have been booked, none of the countries have yet RSVP’d.

Posted by Canadian Claire at the Bali International Conference Centre

On Monday, speaking in Canada’s Parliament, Environment Minister John Baird admitted that a rise of 2°C in the earth’s temperature “is unacceptable.”

This from a country that a few months ago we dubbed part of the ‘4°C club’ due to its backwards position in the climate negotiations. Canada had been advocating that countries consider all the ranges from Noble-Prize winning IPCC in deciding the range of emission reduction targets industrialized countries should adopt for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Only the lowest range, emission cuts of 25-40% below 1990 levels, gives us a chance at staying below a 2°C warming.

Adopting a position that warming should stay as far below 2°C as possible is a definite champagne cork popping event, had it not been for the fact that Canada’s domestic climate policies seem to be 6 degrees of separation away from supporting this position.

The government has adopted a 2020 goal that still leaves them above their Kyoto target 8 years after the fact. And what about the media reports that Prime Minister Harper called the whole Kyoto thing a “mistake that should never be repeated” at the Commonwealth summit just last month?

Posted by Emily, campaigner, onboard the Arctic Sunrise in Italy

Our Italian “Quit Coal” tour has come to an end and it is time for the Arctic Sunrise to sail on to its next destination. Our hard working activists and ship’s crew made this tour a success. Five actions against coal helped to raise awareness about this fossil fuel’s role in climate change and the necessity of supporting alternatives in order to protect our future.

By Jo, communications officer

The ships are really where the heart of Greenpeace is. I’ve been lucky enough to have some wonderful experiences on board our ships the Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise. But until today I had never even seen our most iconic ship, the Rainbow Warrior. And what a way to see it, from our media boat I along with 60 journalists and a few of our delegation, being escorted into Bali by a flotilla of local fishing boats. They were all bearing messages demanding climate action and calling for people across the world to join the global day of action tomorrow.

We're almost at the half-way point in this marathon of climate negotiations here in Bali, but the first week's progress has been paltry. With recognition of climate change as the single biggest threat to this planet at an all-time high, with scientists being more sure than ever as to the drivers of climate change, and with solutions all around us, one would think that the difficult work has already been done. Not so, based on my observations at Bali this week.

In fact, after a week of discussions by more than 100 governments, all we really have is bureaucrats revealing their negotiating positions, plus lots of posturing.

On whether industrialized countries should set emissions targets in line with the science (a substantial 30% reduction in emissions by 2020), there's no consensus.

By Gavin, climate campaign leader, Bali

On whether developing countries should set binding targets for things like energy efficiency and renewable energy, again there's no consensus.

On whether emissions from deforestation should be tackled, there is much murmuring, but there’s no consensus on whether this should be done without undermining emissions reductions from fossil fuel burning (it’s not an either or: we need both!).

On whether the west will give access to the funds needed to adapt to a changing climate and provide easy access to clean technology for developing countries, there is consensus from developing countries. But the developed countries who have caused most of the problem of climate change to date don’t yet agree.

Add all this up and what we essentially have is little progress in week one, and a massive homework assignment for ministers when they arrive in week two. If I was a minister I’d be wondering what the hell my top bureaucrats have been doing all week.

Posted by Daniel, political advisor in Bali

There has been a lot of talk about the carbon footprint of the Bali climate talks. Questioning the carbon footprint of big events like this is justified. And clearly not everybody who is on Bali needs to be here. Take the stuck in the rut climate sceptics, for example! But let's also keep in mind, that this conference emits only as much CO2 as running the planned new coal power plant at Neurath for a mere 20 hours or so. Neurath was one of the places where the global day of action took place yesterday. (To all of you who took part a bit thank you!) IF governments get their act together and agree a credible action plan here, it will have been carbon well spent - unlike at Neurath!. - The hosts have also done what they can to reduce the transport emissions locally. Free bikes are available everywhere. And though it seems to be getting more and more humid by the minute, lots of people can be seen rushing around on the bikes. I once got lost with one, cycling around in circles for half an hour (the closest I have gotten to exercise this week. But also to swimming - I was that wet ...!). So the bikes are a good thing as well as a fast and convenient - if sweaty - alternative to taxis. That said, some of them are also a form of greenwash. Medco energi are sponsoring the free bikes that have "Stop global warming" written all over them (see picture). Sadly, stopping global warming is not Medco energi's core business, to put it mildly. Rather, they produce oil - and are also the company behind a planned nuclear power plant in Jepara, Central Java. Those nuclear power plans are not popular. The local muslim council has declared a very reasonable fatwa against the project. And last week, some 1200 people joined us for a protest on the proposed site of the nuclear power facility. I have to think of those communities every time I dash off - carbon-free - to another meeting on a Medco energi-sponsored bike.

By Sven, Renewable Energy campaigner

When I arrived at the harbour to join the media boat heading out to watch the Rainbow Warrior flotilla, it was already pretty busy. Journalists registering at our desk, cameramen carrying heavy equipment - it was just before 9am - but already hot and humid. Our Indonesian team was still fighting paper work to complete permission for the Rainbow Warrior to sail in.

An hour later out at sea with a charter ship - the Warrior appeared on the horizon. More 40 than tiny little fishing boats surround here. It was a peaceful picture, somehow emotional. It reminded me of the less peaceful "welcome" we received just a week ago, when we took action against a coal power plant near Jepara, on the North Coast of Central Java.

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

As more and more ministers arrive in Bali, more and more of the real action is happening informally and behind closed doors. The ministers will give the speeches and get the puplic attention. But the texts will decide whether Bali has delivered - or not - and until tomorrow night at least, these texts are still being negotiated by the buraucrats. As of this weekend, texts are out; documents, that give an indication of what the end result might look like. Papers that governments will now wrangle over for the rest of the week.

Everybody from now on will be asking "Have you seen the text on x?" "What do you make of paragraph 2i of text y?" in the corridors. Our task for the rest of the week is simple (at least in principle): Get bad things out of these texts. And fight like hell for what we like. Such as references to real emissions reductions for industrialized countries of the scale required by science (25-40% by 2020; amounting collectively to at least minus 30%) . These figures are on the table just now - a real result of all our hard work last week. Let's hope they stay there! We will work like hell to make sure they do. Promise.

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

New text on the negotiations, that all those who have ratified the Kyoto Protocol are involved in. And it is bad news. The key targets - peaking global emissions in the next 10-15 years; reducing emissions in industrialzied countries by 25-40% by 2020; getting global emissions well below 50% by 2050 - they are all gone! There is a reference to a previous decision that includes these targets. But this is still unacceptable. We need clear words and clear signal from Bali. Nothing less. Period.

By Gavin, climate campaign leader

Sunday was an afternoon on the beach with 500 people, all laying out to spell a message urging action on climate change. Human banner artist John Quigley was on hand to be designer & master of ceremonies, his positive energy encouraging a multi-cultural mass of people. We were working with stepitup, a US ngo whos been doing some great organising over the past couple of years in building a network of people all working to help push climate change up the political agenda. And also Global Green, a US NGO founded by President Gorbachev to encourage green buildings & cities by reconnecting humanity to the environment.

That’s one of the many cool things about this climate meeting in Bali – there are such a diverse number of organisations, all taking a multitude of approaches to the same issue. And all united under the idea that the global problem of climate change needs a global solution, with everyone playing there part.

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

New text again (in the Kyoto Protocol part of the negotiations here). And now the crucial targets are back in. But only as an option. Option two of paragraph two. This text will likely be something that ministers will wrangle about here. It will be the test for how many of them are serious. Canada and Japan have opposed moves by the EU and the China on behalf of developing countries to reintroduce these targets outright. Russia seems to also have been problematic - and Australia still does not seem to be actively supporting what science tells us we need. So as ministers arrive in Bali, stopping dangerous climate change is still an option - option 2!

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

Negotiations limped on on many issues until 2am last night. But this morning, there was tiredness and disappointment written into many faces. Including mine. But especially many delegates from developing countries are not happy. The crucial issue of 'transfering' the technologies developing countries need to deliver energy to their people without ruining the climate hit an impasse. This is bad. This is yet another knot that needs to be broken here over the next three days to deliver the action plan for the climate we need. Today, ministers will be told about how many issues are still unresolved. I doubt they will be happy. I certainly am not. Three more days. Will governments deliver!?

While the bureaucrats and ministers slug it out on text insertions and
deletions at the UN conference, the UNFCCC President Mr. Rachmat
Witoelar took a break from the proceedings earlier today to to visit the
Rainbow Warrior docked in Benoa Harbour of Bali to launch Greenpeace
Southeast Asia's 'Energy Efficient Bali' programme.

Witoelar was as excited about the 'Switch off, Unplug, Enjoy' initiative
as he was about visiting our flagship, that has been for last two months
taking direct action to expose and stop climate crimes happening in his
country. Like Gerd Leipold our international executive director pointed
out to him, Greenpeace is not all about direct actions or stopping
crimes, we also promote solutions and Energy Efficient Bali is one such
initiative, the Minister agreed and encouraged all stake holders of Bali's
hospitality industry to participate enthusiastically in the Greenpeace
programme.

The programme incidentally is being run in partnership with Bali Hotels
Association and Bali Tourism Development Sector and will include regular
skill-shares to provide information on cost-effective energy efficiency
measures and modern renewable energy technologies that the hospitality
industry can deploy at their properties; Regular training on energy
conservation, water conservation and waste management for hotel staff;
and of course some Greenpeace style lobbying of the Indonesian
government to provide incentives and subsidies to allow hotels to invest
in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.

Witoelar was happy that he could get away from the meeting, but we used
the opportunity to impress upon him that we expected that under his
leadership the UNFCCC and all parties at the conference will take brave
decisions to ensure that the outcome of the Bali meeting will meet the
aspirations of the millions of people around the world.

By Wun, Solar Generation delegate from Thailand

Today should be marked for a few reasons. It was today ten years ago that the most essential legally binding agreement to address climate change received its name from where it was founded: Kyoto. It is today that the Kyoto protocol celebrates its birthday for the first time. It is today that one of the Greenpeace International members mentioned to me, "I have never seen so many press at an inside Greenpeace event before." Thus, today is truly a remarkable day for us all.

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

Everyone is just as tired as yesterday, but the conference centre today is alive with activity and adrenalin. The end game has started. And the shape of the final deal is slowly but surely emerging .... The politics is also getting more interesting: German environment minister Gabriel gave the negotiations a boost by committing to a unilateral, domestic reduction of Germany's emissions by 40% by 2020. I have been working on Germany having such a progressive target for as long as I can remember. (Minus 40% by 2020 was in the position paper I wrote for the climate negotiations in 2000!) Now, finally, we have it! Of course, Germany can only deliver that target, if it stops supporting new coal-fired power plants in Germany ... That's the fight for 2008! - Ministers last night restarted the negotiations on bringing clean technologies to developing countries. (The collapse of which had rightly angered developing countries on Tuesday night. ) We will know soon whether bureaucrats do better this time than on Tuesday ... - Meanwhile, the US is still trying to block everything (and some ministers have been seen looking really depressed, after talking to the US ...). It is clear that they are trying to destroy the United Nations process, something which the rest of the world must simply not allow. Bush does not represent Americans. And whatever comes out of Bali, when government have to sign the dotted line on the future of the Kyoto Protocol in 2009, the President of the United States will NOT be Bush! - So, back to chasing the latest text and fighting like hell that Bali agrees a substantive, real action plan. Wish us luck!

It’s 2:30am, and I’m just back from the conference centre. Plenty of our delegation and many others will be pulling all-nighters. Was just preparing to leave a couple of hours ago when got a call that the US are trying to insert a completely new text into the mitigation section.

I’m going to just paste in the text and quote from Shane, our political head. It’s pretty techie but I can tell you this much: It is more backward than pre-Kyoto texts, it’s all about voluntary targets for greenhouse gas emissions. Quite frankly, it’s a travesty.

After what happened yesterday in Bali, US delegation head, Paula Dobriansky, might not go as far as asking for French fries to be renamed again, it is very unlikely though that she will consider French Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo as the archetype of the French charmeur.

A bilateral US-France meeting ended in a close-to-clash situation and led Borloo to rewrite the speech he was giving 2 hours later to the Conference of the Parties. And his message to the Bush administration was crystal clear: unless the US come with binding reduction targets to the Major Economies Meeting planned to be held in Paris in February 2008, they don’t have to come at all and the meeting will be cancelled. And he was even more precise: anything less than the 25-40% reduction range wouldn’t do it.

Today, the German Minister Gabriel gladly backed up his French colleagues. Gabriel announced that the EU major emitters would stop their participation in the MEM process unless substantive progress was made at Bali. Read: put quantitative reduction figures on the table or you won’t see us in Honolulu!

MEM, a weapon of mass sabotage turned to be a damp squib?

Posted by Bustar Maitar at the Bali International Conference Centre

As the final deal is being hammered out among smaller and smaller groups of ministers, life in the plenary hall at the Convention Centre continues as normal. One speech follows another. Which follows another. As tradition has it, when all the government speeches are done, other "stakeholders" get to talk too. So here are the powerful words Bustar Maitar of Greenpeace Southeast Asia spoke to power today on behalf of the Climate Action Network:

Dear distinguished delegates,

When you talk here in plenary, you are bold, visionary and aware of the climate emergency we face and must confront collectively. Here in plenary, alarms have been raised, and you have stressed the importance of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change. However, in Jakarta, Orchid or Laguna rooms – far from public scrutiny – brave words too often crumble to dust. We see you barter and trade. We hear you put short-term, so-called ‘national’ interest, before the survival of our planet - of even your own people.

Many of you have supported what is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change: a peak in global emissions by 2015, leadership by industrialized countries, by cutting emissions at least 30% by 2020, and cutting global emissions more than 50% by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels). You know, that massive funding must go to the most vulnerable without delay that clean and socially appropriate technologies must be universally deployed, requiring trillions of dollars to avert climate catastrophes.

Some of you – and you know who you are - have done all you can to undermine or mine the process here in Bali. We will remember you and keep watching.

One thing I had thought about blogging before US attempts to turn the bali roap map into road kill, was how much fun listening to the EU press conference was yesterday. These are ministers; they don’t want to have public spats. In particular this is the EU – so it’s all very diplomatic and polite. But the message to the US that we’re not taking any more of your shit, was clear.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get into see Gore but watched him on screen –it was perfect timing. Another reason to be positive about the backlash, and the fact that people are telling the Bush administration where to go.

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

We are still here at the Convention Centre; and it looks like we will be here all night. The mood is charged. People are nervous, tired, cranky. At midnight, ministers will reconvene and hear back from some sub-groups of negotiators on whether any progress has been made. Then there is likely to be more negotiations. Possibly until 7am. - The main sticking points: - what the United States will commit to - what developing countries commit to - and how ministers will reflect the science of climate change that demands real and drastic cuts. The stakes are getting higher. But the convention centre is also emptying out. The ' carneval of ideas' character of the convention centre corridors is over. Some people are sleeping in chairs. The many booths where organizations from the World Bank to our Solar Generation youth delegation have been ' selling' their ideas to passer-bys over the last two weeks have been dismantled. Which gives the place a bit of a hospital feel now. But at least it also means that some obnoxious people are gone. Like all those fossil fuel and nuclear power lobbyists, that have been pretending to be part of the solution to climate change here for the last two weeks. Like the World Coal Institute.

An institute that loves oxymoron's - like clean coal. An institute that is using the worry of many nations, that they require long term, reliable fuels to sell the most climate-damaging energy-form on planet earth. And, yes, as you might have guessed from the name of the institute. That is coal. Every time I passed the institute's stand, I thought of doing small impromptu "activity". Holding a banner in front of them. Delivering pictures of communities devastated by coal. Covering the stand in coal dust. Ok, that would have been mean. But appropriate ...

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

So, we are still here. 9am and governments have just started to meet in plenary. There is a new text - and it is not what the science demands. It lacks clear targets, it lacks the urgency that is needed. The US (supported by Russia last night) seems to have succeeded in destroying a strong agreement, even though the rest if the world was willing to take a giant step forward in Bali. But whether even this deal (which does have some good elements, e.g. on bringing clean technologies to the developing world) will survive the next few hours, we will see. There are still several options on the table. It is unusual to discuss a non-agreed text in plenary. It's a gamble by the Indonesian organizers. Let's see whether it works ...

Posted by Daniel, political advisor at the Bali International Conference Centre

Well, this was fun. After emotional speeches on the need to act - and to act now - against climate change by the likes of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Paula Dobriansky for the Bush White House first objected to the "Bali roadmap", the start of comprehensive negotiations for the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol. She was boo-ed. And many delegations, in stark terms not usual in international diplomacy, objected. South Africa said very clearly, that developing countries, especially rapidly industrializing one, are willing to do more (unlike what the Bush administrations keeps telling the world). And Papua New Guinea put it best. They called on the United States to "get out of the way". Well - they did! A potential action plan, to be agreed in 2009, was adopted. This changes nothing about the fact that the Bush administration is to blame that not more was achieved in Bali. That this agreement is not what the science demands. This agreement does, for example, not commit governments to the vital peak in global emissions by 2015. Still: the minimum for what we came here for, we got. (And we still await further decisions later today, especially from all those countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol.)
Today we will sleep when this is finally over in another few hours. But tomorrow we start mobilizing for the fight over the next two years. We now CAN get a strengthened global climate treaty in Copenhagen in 2009. But this is by no means a given. It will take political pressure - like the pressure that made the United States cave here today. Thanks for your support! Keep it up!

Posted by Australian Stephen Campbell at the Bali International Conference Centre

It's been a tough two weeks pushing the new Australian government to finally accept some clear numbers for action on climate change. At the beggining of the week the Prime Minister said that there was no way that Australia would sign up to the negotiating "range" (of 25-40% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels), but here they are, agreeing to it! We have pushed and pushed, and called out for the government to take a principled position, and now it seems like we will get our wishes. We still have a long way to go to start reducing emissions in Australia, but now we have something to shoot for. We couldn't be more happy!

Posted by Arieta Moceica from Fiji at the Bali International Conference Centre

It is now 5pm of Saturday 15th December. The UN Climate Change Conference was scheduled for 3-14 Dec. The conference is still in session! Why are we still sitting here in plenary hearing the debate on the text a full day after what was to be the official end date?

In the face of heartfelt plea from the voices of those at the forefront of the impacts of climate change- namely, Tuvalu; Grenada on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and a few others, this morning the US continued to hold to its stubborn, non-negotiable stance which threatened to bring the meeting to a horrible end - ie. no mandate and a total waste of money, time, effort and the poltical will of industralised nations like member states of the EU. South Africa and PNG then made really strong interventions calling on the US to be the leader its been in other arena; PNG told the US that if it could not be a leader, then to get out of the way and leave the space to others.

Sheepishly, the US fell into line. As the room applauded, I did not want to waste my energy applauding because for me as a Pacific Islander, I ask " what took it so long to get to this point and why did it have to be kicked in the rear end to get in line?" I will wait to see what the US gets up to in the coming 2 years. It is the hope of those of us who witness first hand the impacts of climate change that as the will of the people in Australia changed the arrogant government of Howard; that the same will happen in 2008 in the USA.

In the last few minutes - the text adopted under the Kyoto Protocol had the ranges Greenpeace has been fighting hard for (25-40% reductions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels). Australia's support was particularly welcomed with rounds of applause. As a Pacific Islander, this gesture on the part of Australia is much welcomed and we look forward to more positive relations.

This session just ended is the start of a 2 year process which will negotiate the work for the second round of commitment under the Kyoto Protocol. What the Pacific islands need is strengthened capacity to be like Tuvalu, in its tenacity, in continuing to raise its flag and voice in the face of bullying tactics by big industrialised nations like the USA. What the Pacific islands need is real action against climate change. Now!

Now that Bali's over, it's easy to forget all the hard work people around the world did to pressure governments to deliver. To be sure, letter writing, phone calls, lobby work, etc is all important. Everyone who contributed by sending messages in and turning up the heat on their governments deserves our thanks. Protest, getting out on the street, and civil disobedience play a big role in this.

So we've put together a map showing some of the protests around the world leading up to and during Bali...

View Larger Map

By Wendel, Bali project team leader, now in Brussels

The Bali meeting was an extra-ordinary one with final decisions being made more than 24 hours after its scheduled ending. The last couple of hours of the meeting were a bit of a drama with countries changing their positions at the very last moment, and the media thinking it was over while there were still some important discussions going on. There for the news that came out of Bali may have been a bit confusing. Allow me to clarify.

1. We have a Bali Mandate! Maybe not as clear and as coherent as we wanted it, but looking at where we were at the start of the COP/MOP, our team in Bali achieved a lot. The language could have been better, and it could all have been more coherent but if we look carefully at what has been decided, we got a lot out of Bali: we have a process and a deadline, we have recognition of ambitious targets (25 to 40 % by 2020), and we have all our major issues on the agenda (deforestation, adaptation, technology transfer and financing). So, in fact we can be proud of what we have achieved.