John Lanchbery, Principal Climate Adviser
It is just after 8pm on Saturday, 23rd November and I am on the overnight sleeper train from Warsaw to Cologne. Mohamed from Christian Aid is calling it the climate train because there are lots of people from the climate talks on board. I literally just bumped into Teri and Femke in the corridor both of whom work for Green members of the European Parliament (Satu Hasi from Finland and Bas Ekhout from Holland).
The climate talks continue but most things are now agreed after a 24 hour overnight overrun. I stayed until five o'clock this afternoon but at that stage there is not much that us NGOs can do to influence things. Difficult matters were being discussed in closed rooms by ministers. We published a final edition of ECO (the NGO newspaper that everyone reads) and then most of us dashed for trains or planes - as did delegates from poorer countries who cannot afford to change bookings.
Overall, it has not been a shining beacon of a COP but it has done enough to keep the show on the road. Paris in 2015 is still the year to conclude the new global climate treaty and a work plan for getting there is agreed. It could be better but it will do. Full marks to the UK negotiator, leading for the EU, for trying very hard to get a more ambitious deal.
The things that I mainly work on, forests and land use, have gone well. A big step forward. We have package of agreements on reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries (REDD+): on technical issues, on institutions and on finance. Us NGOs were especially pleased to get biodiversity, social and governance safeguards into the finance text - and it really was us working with sympathetic countries like the Philippines. The Polish presidency of the COP has invented a special name for the REDD+ package, which I forget. The Warsaw something or other - Pact perhaps, or perhaps not. Still lots to do but really good progress.
Discussions on emissions (and removals) from land use kicked off in Warsaw with support from many ministers, including Ed Davey from the UK and the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, on a video link. Early days but we have been pushing for this for two years and so are delighted that something is happening at last.
My highlight of the Warsaw meeting was our now routine chat with the Chinese minister. He now knows me quite well and after I asked the first question, on China's view on timelines to Paris in 2015, he shook me by the hand and asked why the same gentleman always came and always asked hard questions. He was joking, of course, but it is quite flattering that the Chinese minister knows who you are and greets you in the corridors.
Last, but definitely not least, the Polish people have been very good hosts. It is the first UN meeting that I have been to at which the local security people (male and female) all say 'good morning' and grin and really mean it. And they all say 'good night' and grin when you leave. I have not met anyone who was hostile, or even a bit grumpy, inside or outside the UN conference. Charming.