As I made my way to the Bella Centre here in Copenhagen this morning for the first day of the two week-long international climate talks, there was something historic in the air. Walking down into the subway, out of the cold morning air, I passed beneath a sign that said, in bold letters, “The time is now.”
And indeed, if there ever was a time for action on climate change, now is that time. Climate change impacts are growing in number and severity day by day in every region of the world. In addition, new threats to our national security, economic stability, resource availability and the very ecosystems that sustain us are emerging. There is no more time to wait for action.
These global climate negotiations are one of the most important and complex political negotiations to have taken place in humanity’s long and winding history. Indeed, this meeting in Copenhagen alone has brought together 25,000 attendees from every corner of the earth. They will be joined by an astonishing 110 heads of state and government next week. The sheer size and level of this meeting signifies its importance and the potential it brings.
So, as the first in a series of dispatches from Copenhagen, I, along with my fellow delegates, am taking the opportunity today to ask the question: What do I really want to see from this historic meeting? What took me by surprise was the difficulty I experienced in answering this question, as I found myself met by the conflict of so-called “political reality” and “personal aspiration.”
Despite a more collaborative political dynamic on climate change than there has ever been, we are still very far from achieving the kind of ambitious, equitable, and binding deal that our global society needs to see in Copenhagen. Yet time is running out. The challenges of domestic politics and the barriers they represent loom large in the negotiating arena, but in truth, what kind of “political reality checks” will we continue to impose on our survival that are stronger than the ecological, economic and social stability of our world?
In reality, anything is possible and the only true limit to change is our ability to imagine it and truly wish to make it happen. Perhaps that is aspiration, but we have the capacity as a global community to achieve the change we wish to see; if only we can work together, and make commitments in line with science and with our past and future responsibilities and capabilities.
With this in mind, I choose to hope that here in Copenhagen, at this historic meeting, we will see aspiration win out over “political reality.” That we will see true political leadership, meaningful acceptance of responsibility from all nations and true change-making politics to give us the strong, global deal on climate change that the world needs.
In the words of Yvo de Boer at the opening conference plenary, “After two years negotiating Copenhagen, the time has come to deliver. Copenhagen will only be successful if it delivers solid action that will begin the day Copenhagen ends. I urge you to…deliver [and] reach for success.”
Or, as Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Denmark’s Prime Minister said, “Let us not focus on what divides us, but on what brings us together. We can change and we have to change.” The time is now.
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