Warsaw Wanderings

I went with Badger on an important trip to Warsaw yesterday. We joined 200 campaigners to campaign for the EU climate and energy package to be strengthened. It was much colder than in Poznan – badger’s fur meant he was the only one who didn’t freeze!

German Chancellor Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Tusk were in Warsaw to talk about the details in the EU climate package. Both countries have been weakening the deal: Tusk because of Poland’s reliance on coal (the most polluting fuel) and Merkel because of the financial crisis.

We rallied outside their meeting to remind them that so much is at stake. Poor people are already feeling the effects of climate change - we need to cut emissions now to try to prevent catastrophic climate change. The EU has typically been a climate leader internationally – but if it gets its own climate laws wrong then it will undermine progress in Poznan and beyond. The costs of inaction are much greater than the costs of action.

Back in Poznan... The atmosphere seems more frantic at the conference centre - there’s a constant buzz of conversation and people seem to be rushing around. We hope this means that talks are progressing but as we’ve seen many times before, talking doesn’t necessarily mean action. We have heard that talks could go on all night in the scramble for some gleam of progress by the end. The Ministers arrive tomorrow so the pressure’s really on…