The recently concluded European Union (EU) negotiations on funding the climate change for developing nations illustrates the opportunities and the frustrations that come with leaving climate change in the hands of the political process.
For people who have never been in the room when decisions are made, the important thing to remember is that the dynamic of getting a deal overwhelms the reasons you got together in the first place.
Maybe everyone starts out thinking that you have to achieve a certain goal by a certain time using x amount of money. But it usually becomes clear early on that not every one is on board with every aspect of the bargaining. For some, timing is crucial, for others it's the goal, and everyone worries about which Peter will be robbed to pay which Paul.
So eventually, the compromising begins and the original problem becomes redefined to fit the available solutions. This is inevitable, and it is intensely frustrating to those who aren't in the room but who have to live by the final decisions.
The negotiations around funding climate change for developing nations offers a perfect example. Everyone agreed that 100 billion Euros was the right funding number. But the trick was in how much the EU would put up in hard cash up front. The initial idea was 50 percent, or 50 billion Euros. Gordon Brown kicked things off by putting a figure of 30-40 billion Euros on the table. Germany balked at committing to a specific number, so in the end they agreed to putting up anywhere from 22 to 50 billion Euros, depending on funding from other sources.
Where would the other money come from? Well, that depends on which Peter you are prepared to rob to pay Paul. Those in the aid community smelled a rat, fearing that money for existing aid projects would be switched to global warming. What was clear was that if that money didn't get put on the table from some place then all bets were off as far as the EU funding was concerned.
Another stumbling block was getting support from Easter Europe. They didn't want money that was supposed to be helping their economic recovery to go somewhere else, at least not without them getting something in return. That something turned out to be carbon permits.
The eastern bloc has a bunch of spare carbon permits left over from the collapse of the communist empire. Germany was against those permits being kept, arguing that it would lessen the need for action to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Sweden stepped in and broke the impasse by promising the eastern bloc that nothing would be done about them any time soon. With Poland and the other Eastern European countries on board, the deal was sealed.
It ain't pretty, but that's how deals are made. Too bad Mother Nature didn't have a seat at the table. Maybe things might have come out better. But for now, this is the best we can hope for: Half-measures and promises to do better, followed by self-congratulatory slaps on the back all around.
This essay first appeared in PlanetRestart.org
