TRL's Copenhagen Diary Where we go from here

Date: 22/12/2009

Monday 14th - Saturday 19th December

The second week of the climate talks will probably be remembered for several things, not least the difficulty of accessing the venue by observer organisations. TRL did, however, persevere and were able to witness the progress of the negotiations to a point when the Heads of States arrived to ‘boost' the negotiations. At the same time, they were able to maintain visibility at parallel events organised by organisations such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Notwithstanding the difficulties, Holger and Ko were able to feedback their observations which are available on the www.transport2012.org website blog. The final blog provides an insight into the ‘rollercoaster ride' on the last day . . .

‘The negotiations reached a stalemate at around 08.00 - at which time the COP President adjourned the meeting and behind-the-scenes consultations took place. This went on for a few hours, with small groups of delegates bunched around each other in various corners of the huge hall. Then at roughly 09.30, there was a sudden announcement that a solution had been found!!'

The TRL team engaged in the UNFCCC process, Holger Dalkmann and Ko Sakamoto, Anne Binsted and Kate Avery, are contributing to a number of projects focused on communicating the role of transport in international climate change actions.

The ‘Bridging the Gap' initiative (www.transport2012.org) has been the focus of the work in 2009, where TRL has joined forces with GTZ, UITP and Veolia Transport to increase recognition that transport can and should play in mitigating GHG emissions. Through a series of workshops and UNFCCC side events, the work has included the delivery of text suggestions to the climate negotiators and wider recommendations to key stakeholders.

The programme of work was focused on the COP15 in Copenhagen, although given that the outcome - the ‘Copenhagen Accord' - has extended the mandate of the negotiating process to COP16 in December 2010, the ‘Bridging the Gap' work will continue to ensure that transport is on the agenda throughout this process

So now we turn our attention to COP16 in Mexico. TRL will continue to engage in the UNFCCC process in 2010 to support and inform the communication of the importance of including land transport in international climate change actions.