An inside look at the COP15 "circus"
On Saturday, the Green MBA community heard first hand how last December’s Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP15) was exciting, depressing, exhausting and energizing. Green MBA Director Lauralee Barbaria and Environmental Finance Center Executive Director Sarah Diefendorf reported on their experiences with the Conference of the Parties’ attempt to stem greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. Both admitted that the conference was somewhat overwhelming, and while they are still working out what they experienced, both are convinced that progress can be made in the struggle to mitigate and adapt to climate change across the globe.
Sarah and Lauralee began their presentation by playing the same video that was shown to the 15,000 delegates at the opening session:
This stark visualization of what could await a world that did not succeed at Copenhagen is now hard to watch, as we are by no means certain that the process witnessed at Copenhagen will succeed.
Lauralee and Sarah described their whirlwind days at the conference, with long lines, 16-hour days and challenging attempts to buttonhole decision makers to promote their agenda. They outlined the intricacies of negotiating the language of the final accord, such as bracketing and unbracketing wording (i.e., bringing the words into and out of the final draft) and the countless acronyms for organizations and causes.
Despite the difficulties facing all stakeholders, but especially women in developing nations, Lauralee and Sarah did not leave the Conference without hope. They emphasized that it is up to each of us to stay educated and active on the topic of climate change, and to work for change closer to home to support the global goals of mitigation and adaptation to the turbulence that is sure to come.
The Green MBA is involved in several projects around climate change. Also on Saturday, GMBA students and Net Impact members Niko Ackermann and Jonah Nisenson reported that their Operations Management class conducted a greenhouse gas audit of the Dominican campus and made recommendations to the Dean for moving forward. Sarah Diefendorf announced that the Environmental Finance Center has been awarded a contract with the UN Development Program to contribute two chapters for a book on environmental finance tools focusing on developing nations, a project that fits perfectly with the focus of the next climate change conference, COP16, to be held in Mexico next winter.
