It's getting hot in here: Bali day 1.

Challenges of the Day: The goal for the international community should be to find ways to move away the International Energy Scenario where global emissions go up by 50 per cent by 2050 and toward the IPCC scenarios where emissions go down by 50 per cent by 2050.
-Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC Chief

“If we give nothing, we get nothing. We need to figure out what little can we give to maximize our return. Right now, we have no plan. The other side has lawyers, economists and a plan. We need one too.”
-Papua New Guinea

Who’s Hot:
* Indonesia (literally—it’s a humid 29 degrees Celsius here)
* Yvo de Boer and low A/C Policy: The UNFCCC climate chief was sporting a stylish batik Indonesian shirt which his assistant said he brought with him; he hasn’t had a chance to go shopping. The UNFCC has amended the dress code to exclude formal wear and ties to “allow participants to conduct discussions in a more comfortable environment, as well as limit the use of air conditioning and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
* HRH Prince Charles: Made the following call to action, “Let us all join them by stiffening the sinews and summoning up the blood to overcome this unprecedented [global warming] challenge.”
* Myanmar: For challenging G-77 + China to open up and be more transparent with the press.
* Papua New Guinea: For challenging G-77 + China to come up with a plan and be willing to make sacrifices to get benefits in the form of adaptation funds and for preserving forests.
* Australia’s PM Kevin Rudd, who will attend meeting and for being the first head of state to defeat a sitting head of government by taking leadership role on fighting global warming. His new cabinet includes a Minister of Climate Change and Water.
* UNDP Human Development lead author Report Kevin Watkins: For having the courage to admit that the current cap-and-trade approach is not producing results and that a global carbon tax should be considered, “Long-term investment needs predictability of price, and a tax is the way to do that. Cap-and-trade is not particularly working. We need to develop the strategy into a carbon tax.”

Who’s Not:
* Global economy: For scuttling the cold war global cooling dividend. After the economic implosion the former Soviet Union in the early nineties, global emissions in 2005 finally climbed back to a level greater they were in 1990.
* USA: According to Yvo De Boer, the US will not likely accept binding targets even under a new President, because the Senate is opposed unless China is involved as well.

Bali, the Indonesian island of the Gods, kicked off global climate change talks today meant to draw out a roadmap and policy toolkit for a global warming agreement in time for a smooth transition when the first Kyoto period expires at the end of 2012. Over 12,000 of the globe’s leading climate power-brokers (including some people with some real sway like the Trade and Finance officials for the first time ever) from 187 countries are gathering in beautiful Bali, including a cohort of 1500 accredited journalists to keep tabs, or at least run them up on the Bali cocktails, as we struggle to meet filing deadlines accentuated by a 13-hour time difference from EST.

Two things struck me about Bali right away. First, with sweltering temperatures of 29-plus degrees Celsius it is much more amiable climate to focus the mind on doing battle against global warming. At least compared to Montreal. When Canada--with Stephane Dion presiding over the talks as meeting President--hosted the UN’s global climate change meeting in December, 2005, I remember standing outside the Palais des congrès at a rally where Elizabeth May (Sierra Club Executive Director at the Time) was challenging world leaders to demonstrate the political will required to avoid dangerous global warming. People were waving placards all around that had a url at the bottom that read itsgettinghotinhere.org, and it was so cold I could not even feel my toes.

The other thing I learnt is that Bali is pretty big, so if you are planning on covering the climate change conference at the Nusa Dua resort’s Weston Hotel, and you got a great deal on a villa in the Uban district of Bali, you better be prepared for a 4-hour round-trip commute daily on your scooter, which is the preferred mode of transport among the Balinese, who despite the traffic density are surprisingly courteous drivers who could teach a thing or two to horn-happy New Yorkers.

Two official things of note happened on the first day of the two-week long climate talks: the closed door first meeting of G-77 plus China group in the Sunflower room, which is actually a big white tent, and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) chief Yvo de Boer’s press briefings to outline the goals of the conference.

I decided to implausibly feign interpretation of “closed door” to mean that the door would be closed to ensure that the air conditioners did not have to work overtime, in the spirit of energy efficiency.

Despite my white shirt and skin colour, I attempted to conspicuously blend in with the Bengali delegation. I realized that I must be sitting next to someone of importance as a person kept fetching water for him. He later introduced himself as the acting head of mission for Bangladesh. I told that my father was a city councilor for an area in Toronto, in which Bengalis comprised the largest ethnic group, and we instantaneously struck up a rapport. He told me that he supports a global carbon levy, with a portion being directed to developing countries to finance the preservation of forests and adapt to climate change, with the WTO playing a role.

The delegates seemed torn on whether to support “future commitments” or “global action” for post-2012, after the first phase of Kyoto expires. South Africa said, “we are facing a global challenge and global approaches are needed.”

Algeria said we can agree to global action, as long as we’re clear that global action doesn’t mean commitment.

India, which along with China, were the two countries that were in the room that really matter from an emissions point of view, said “we have to be extremely careful about the unintended consequences of agreeing to global action or commitments. 50 per cent by 2050? What does that mean?”

Papua New Guinea made one of the shortest and most pointed speeches, calling for a reality check: “If we give nothing, we get nothing. We need to figure out what little can we give to maximize our return. Right now, we have no plan. The other side has lawyers, economists and a plan. We need one too.”

Myanmar, that not-so-likely bastion of press freedom and transparency, stood up to suggest that the G-77 needs to be more transparent with the media and that the G-77 spokespeople should do media briefings so that the G-77 do not get such a poor shake in the news as has been the case on climate change.

There was a general consensus in the room for the rich countries need to pony up some serious funds for adaptation rather than the symbolic amount (US $36 million) presently flowing.

Near the end of the meeting, someone whispered in the Chair’s ear. I swore he was looking at me when he said, “I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that this is a closed-door meeting for G77 plus China. So if you are not a representative from a member country, I would ask that you please vacate the premises.” In case the intruders didn’t hear, the Chair, added, “I would also like to ask all of the delegates to assist in identifying any non-representatives in the room in finding their way to a more convenient location. I took this as my cue and waved bye to my new Bengali friend before discreetly exiting out the back of the tent.

The other main meeting was Yvo de Boer’s press briefings. The main thrust of this meeting according to Yvo, who was clad in a climate-friendly (comfortable open necked shirts require less A/C than with a suit and tie) Indonesian Batik shirt, is to decide on a toolbox for how we can take on global warming. This toolbox, in Yvo’s view, will almost certainly include a carbon market (presently carbon trading is at US $30 billion/year), but could also include carbon taxes, sectoral targets, and product standards (favoured by the US, but not necessarily to the exclusion of other tools).

The Reuters correspondent asked if there wouldn’t be a bland result from focusing on the toolbox as opposed to firm GHG targets. Yvo used the metaphor of a marathon, saying that the Reuters reporter would not want to predict his marathon time (which Yvo guessed would be in around six hours—a bit unoptimistic as the Reuters guy looked pretty fit) until he knew if he would be allowed to wear shoes and what kind of surface he would be running on (sand vs. asphalt). The main reason, according to Yvo, for why we need a toolbox before we agree on targets (or maybe just one global target) is that countries’ ambition to adopt targets is a direct function of what tools they have at their disposal to meet those targets. Yvo cited his home country of the Netherlands as being able to take on targets that were twice as stringent as they otherwise would have because they had the option of purchasing international credits to meet halve of their obligation. The idea here is that if tools allow countries to get a bargain price on carbon credits, then countries will be apt to agree to stricter reductions. Sometimes though, I think, you get what you pay for and bargain hunting may fall short of scaling global efforts up to the annual trillion dollar scale the IPCC says is necessary to avoid dangerous human interference with the climate.

Yvo also said that it will be possible for the group of industrialized countries (which I assume included Canada) to meet their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. I wonder if he and Stephen Harper--who is being sued by Friends of the Earth Canada and ecojustice for explicitly saying Canada will not meet nor is it realistic for Canada to meet its Kyoto targets--have talked recently.

Yvo also singled out adaptation as a top priority of the meeting. Presently, there is a two per cent levy on all Clean-Development Mechanism (CDM) projects that is set aside for helping countries adapt to climate change. To date, $36 million has been dispensed, but Yvo said that the current pipeline of CDM projects could result in $1.6 billion for adaptation funds, without specifying the time period. Yvo did say that this amount of money would still pale in comparison to the funds needed to help countries adapt, offering that a significant chunk of funds would also need to be leveraged from the private sector. Yvo predicted that adaptation funding, if done near a scale which is necessary, would dwarf overseas development assistance. Yvo identified another big focus going forward as providing funds for preserving forests, as deforestation contributes 20 per cent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. To do this, he outlined the need to get trial projects going that could delineate exactly how much carbon trees save, and how to ensure the safeguards for preserved trees so they are not cut down at a future date.

Emil Salim, the head of the host Indonesian delegation, summed up the goal of the Bali climate talks with his own metaphor: "We hope this meeting will be like an engagement, where everyone agrees to get together, next year's conference in Poland will be the marriage and in Copenhagen the child will be born."