Many people have asked me about the Russian Government’s position in Copenhagen.  I have spent so much time in Russia over the years and have seen, myself, the impacts of climate change in Russia.  We are seeing forests dry out, die from disease and burn.  Historically, some in Russia’s elite have thought that climate change will be positive for Russia, since it will lead to more agricultural land.  However, the Russian Hydrometeorological Service – a Russian government agency – recently issued a report detailing climate change’s likely impacts on Russia.  The report clearly stated that climate change will have far-reaching negative impacts.

Yet the Russian government position in Copenhagen unfortunately appears to be self-serving. Russia wants to use existing carbon credits in the future.  This seems reasonable, except that Russia earned those credits due to a collapsing economy after the fall of the Soviet Union, not due to efforts to become energy efficient or reduce emissions.  The Russian Government wants to be allowed to increase emissions in the future.  That is the wrong direction.

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Like many of us around the world, I am keenly watching events unfold in Copenhagen.  I keep wondering whether our diplomats will be able to pull themselves together to come out of Copenhagen with a strong, binding agreement that truly reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Today’s big news focused on developing countries walking out of the talks due to concerns about developed countries abandoning the binding targets of the Kyoto Protocol.  This reminds me of the famous WTO negotiations in Seattle ten years ago.  At those negotiations, developing countries brought down the talks because they saw too much back-room dealing.  Oh, and they also saw the incredible protests on the streets calling the entire WTO into question.

Developing countries have every reason to be concerned.  Watching U.S. senators introduce “climate” legislation that allows more offshore oil drilling – such as Senators Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham did last week – does not instill me with confidence that the U.S. can be a leader on climate change issues.  It appears as though we are allowing Senator Imhofe – a notorious climate change denier – to control U.S. legislation and, through it, the outcome of the negotiations in Copenhagen.  We need the U.S. and other developed countries to step up to the plate and commit to significant, binding reductions in emissions.

Developing countries also need to do their part to reduce emissions.  This is why we are helping to build a grassroots environmental movement in China.  Grassroots voices can change China towards a low-carbon path.  We need these voices to speak up loudly and clearly.

On the first day of climate talks in Copenhagen, I have been thinking a lot about rhetoric vs. reality.  The last few days have been abuzz with rumors that the climate talks will result in a deal.  Obama changed his plans to attend the final day of the conference, befitting his role as a major world leader.  The pressure will be on U.S. negotiators to make sure that Obama’s trip is not in vain.

I hope that they are right and that we will get a real, enforceable, meaningful international agreement that leads to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.  Our planet is crying out for this.  Kudos to the newspapers around the world that banded together to prove that an international agreement is, in fact, possible (at least among newspapers) by printing the same editorial calling for a meaningful agreement:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/06/copenhagen-editorial

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Posted by Doug Norlen

Today, the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank announced its official carbon policy.

Ex-Im Bank’s policy does nothing to curb the agency’s growing overall portfolio of greenhouse gas emissions.  In fact, applications to Ex-Im Bank for greenhouse gas-emitting projects are skyrocketing after the financial crisis, as project sponsors seek public subsidies to prop up economically and ecologically damaging projects.  Ex-Im Bank continues to subsidize fossil fuel-related transactions despite the recent G-20 pledge to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.

Ex-Im Bank touts is support for renewable energy and energy efficiency, yet in recent years its support for these transactions represent less than 2% of its overall energy portfolio.

Ex-Im Bank’s carbon policy perpetuates the approach taken under the Bush Administration and undercuts the Obama Administration’s claim to international leadership on climate change.

Read the story as reported by Environmental Finance here.

Posted by Leah Zimmerman

Last year I wrote of Sosnovka as “being in the epicenter of something great, of witnessing a movement coming into its own.” I wrote those words just one day before Misha Jones’ passing. Losing Misha, who held us together and pushed us forward in so many quiet ways, could so easily have brought discouragement, could have easily caused Sosnovka to stumble or fade with time. Instead, a stronger, more mature and more enduring Sosnovka has emerged.

The maturity we glimpsed this year at Sosnovka comes with the passing of seasons, both bright and dark. How easy it is to grow weary in this work, to lose oneself. But Sosnovka defies, linking us together and driving us forward with a million threads of friendship and partnership.

The defining moment of this year’s Sosnovka was the awarding of the first annual Misha Jones Award to Sergei Shapkhaev from the Buryat Regional Organization for Baikal for his community-based work to empower people in remote communities. Like Misha, Sergei never passes up a chance to help out a leader from a distant village, offering an encouraging word or piece of technical advice. The applause that erupted when Sergei’s name was announced for the award was intense and sustained, offering sweet release for hidden thoughts and emotions.

Sustained by memories of Misha’s wit, intellect, and life fully sacrificed for Russia’s people and wilderness, Sosnovka carries on. This year we welcomed participants from previously forgotten regions—Chukotka, Tuva, and the Jewish Autonomous Region. We rallied behind Aleksei and Sasha from Krasnoyarsk, brave defenders of the Angara River who were falsely accused of extremist activities this spring, but were ultimately vindicated in court. We feverishly planned campaigns for the coming year and forged brave new partnerships between indigenous and environmental organizations. And yes, oh how we soaked up the beauty of fall in Primorye and cherished every moment in such rich company!

Last night several Pacific Environment staff attended an interesting panel discussion on Climate Change. The organizations represented were Global Anti-Incineration Alliance, International Rivers, International Forum on Globalization and Rainforest Action Network. The panelists were reporting back from attending the first round of international negotiations that took place last December in Poznan, Poland.

Below are some key points that were discussed:

Who should pay for it?

Developing countries, led by India and China, are stressing the need for developed economies like the U.S. and Europe to provide the capital needed to invest in green technologies in the developing world. They argue that the U.S., and Europe created the climate crisis we are living in today through their hundreds of years of industrialization. While the developing world is growing fast and catching up in their level of emissions, they simply do not have the capital nor the responsibility (as the argument implies) to abandon fast, cheap and polluting methods of growth to remedy a situation they did not create.

False solutions:

Carbon offsets allow polluters in the industrial world to take advantage of loopholes by claiming offsets based on sustainable projects that would have taken place anyway.

Cap & Trade is a false solution also because it does not involve forcing polluters to cease known bad practices like the use of coal, or clean coal and biofuel, etc.

Grassroots actions:

A slideshow was presented with images from grassroots protests that took place during these negotiations. They demonstrated how grassroots protest could help sway climate negotiations toward adopting more real and sustainable solutions.

These panelists brought up important points about the flaws of the various solutions to Climate Change that have been put forward in various negotiations and resulting treaties. What I personally found interesting was the fact that I am currently reading an article in the Mother Jones about how “cap and trade” is our one chance to establish a solution that could be agreed upon by different parties, including industry groups and that the system has been proven successful as a model similar to the one based on the “Clean Air Act”.

I am inclined to think no solutions are perfect and without negative repercussions. Climate Change is such a global issue involving so many players/countries with different sets of challenges, we have to be aware that whatever solutions we are putting forward will likely go through a very intense and grueling process of international debates and consensus-reaching. I think we are better off building on best practices than to imagine an ideal world based on ideal solutions.

New reports of corruption at the highest levels of government never fail to surprise, especially when cases of profiteering are coming from within a democratic, constitution-based administration. Still, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has pointed to official corruption as one of the biggest challenges his country faces since being elected in March. President Medvedev makes big talk about eliminating corruption from his government, but the most recent report out of Siberia illustrates exactly how pervasive systemic bribery is in Russia and how very much is yet to be done:

On December 9, director of the Siberian Federal District Office of the Russian Federal Service for Ecological, Technical and Atomic Supervision, Leonid Baklitsky, was arrested on extortion charges by the Novosibirsk FSB office as the result of an undercover investigation. The investigation revealed that Baklitsky had organized a racketeering system with directors of factories in Siberia that emit a lot of pollution. Baklitsky allegedly received a bribe in the amount of 465,000 rubles ($16,666) while sitting at his office desk (fittingly, December 9is International Anti-Corruption Day). The sum was handed over by the head of a government agency seeking to illegally acquire the right to conduct inspections and expert examinations that the institution is not licensed to do. Searches of the indicted official’s office uncovered undisclosed sums of cash and bank cards. The list of charges is long: an FSB investigator disclosed that during 2008 alone, Baklitsky received similar bribes from other organizations to for the illegal right to conduct technical examinations of buildings and equipment, inspections of dangerous industrial facilities, and to train and certify industrial safety specialists.

Among other things, Baklitsky was responsible for environmental regulation enforcement on the Boguchanskaya Hydroelectric Dam project that has been under construction in the Krasnoyarsk Krai for more than 20 years. In 2006, Ust-Ilismk city Duma deputies appealed to the President with the request to lower the dam’s height from 208 to 185 meters, citing that environmental expert reviews indicated a high likelihood that that the resultant reservoir would be contaminated by industrial runoff from facilities in the Irkutsk Region.

Baklitsky, however, protested this change. It is unknown whether his opposition to the measure was backed by actual scientific data or, perhaps, a different type of currency.

This month I joined over 11,000 others at the 14th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP-14), in Poznan, Poland.  Reactions from the enormous conference ranged from disappointment at the lack of progress in negotiations to enthusiasm and hope. We’re hoping that the incoming Obama Administration will bring new international leadership and end the eight years of obstructionism that has characterized the Bush Administration’s approach to climate change.

In Poznan, Pacific Environment focused on the funding needed for countries to meet their obligations under the climate change convention (especially for climate change mitigation and adaptation).  Most environmental organizations and developing countries want to see the mechanisms controlling funding remain controlled by the climate change convention’s Conference of Parties, which reflects the wide and more democratic membership of the UN.  However, some developed countries support funds under the control of the World Bank Group, over which they have more control.  This is despite the fact that the World Bank has a record of financing projects that worsen climate change and that otherwise do social and environmental harm.

Pacific Environment participated in two statements on this topic that were released at COP-14:

http://members.foei.org/en/campaigns/climate/kyoto-protocol/world-bank-out-of-climate-change-finance

http://www.ifg.org/events/copenhagen2008/Global_Climate_Fund_Poznan.pdf

Meanwhile, governments world-wide continue to subsidize harmful fossil fuel projects that undermine their own commitments under the climate change convention.  It reminded me that continued grass-roots resistance to these projects by Pacific Environment and its partners, wholly outside of the massive and cumbersome climate change convention processes, is as crucial as ever.

Castelanelli Brothers Dairy cows stand patiently while their barn is cleaned - their manure heads to a sealed lagoon, where it turns into methane gas and high quality fertilizer.

What a great experience I had in the past few days. Unforgettable! I have probably learned more information in the past ten days than I normally do in two months. On November 8th Pacific Environment brought a group of Siberians from Lake Baikal area to the Bay area to learn about renewable energy and energy efficiency. Tatiana Molchanova, the Deputy Head and Tatiana Tivikova, the Chief Ranger of the Pribaikalsky region of Buryatia, and a well known journalist in Ulan-Ude, Sergey Basaev, participated in the exchange.

The purpose of the exchange stems from the current rate and type of development plaguing the Baikal region: privatizing public property in the area has resulted in the saturation of both legal and illegal dwellings in the area, which have escalated the cost of electricity for the local people. Now the Russian government plans to invest more in infrastructure in the region in order to increase the quantity of hotels, restaurants and other recreational establishments on the lake’s shores. This – if not monitored correctly and not using environmentally-efficient methods – could cause tremendous cultural, social and environmental tension in the area, including between tourists and the local residents. California and, particularly, the San Francisco region, which is considered to be the second greenest city in the U.S, have a lot to offer in terms of learning about green technologies. We hoped to give our Baikal participants the opportunity to learn from government offices, businesses and other organizations about renewable energy and planning.

We visited a ‘green’ hotel, a renewable energy and sustainable living demonstration site, a geothermal power plant, a wind farm and a dairy that uses methane digesters to generate electricity. The group also met with local legislators to learn about California’s renewable energy policies, renewable portfolio standard, and energy efficiency standards.

Overall, I think the exchange was a real success and that our participants got a ton of useful information that can potentially lead to real projects in Pribaikalsky region. They are now back in Buryatia, full of ideas and eager to jump into projects in their own communities. That success had a lot to do with the valuable information and tips they got from meetings or tours.  I think it was especially valuable to show them the entire spectrum of various technologies – wind, solar, geothermal, methane, and complement this knowledge with what they learned about energy efficiency. Results will be long-term, and I am looking forward to organizing a follow-up exchange and working with communities back in Siberia.

Sosnovka 2008

Posted by the Russia Team

For the first half dozen years of Sosnovka’s existence, we endured annual discussions about whether or not to formalize the coalition’s structure and makeup. Ten years after the coalition’s humble beginnings, this question is moot. The effectiveness of Sosnovka lies not just in the trust and friendship forged between coalition members over the span of ten years, but also in the fiercely informal nature of the group. With Pacific Environment acting as gatekeeper and facilitator, Sosnovka is able to quickly and effectively address all of the major environmental threats facing communities in Siberia and the Russian Far East. From major infrastructure projects like dams and oil pipelines to illegal logging and salmon poaching, Sosnovka has its hands in every major issue.

Pacific Environment staff members who are experienced in the ways of Sosnovka know to store up on sleep before the Russia Team’s mass exodus to Sosnovka; we know that the best conversations and moments of genius are not restricted to the 9am-9pm official meeting times. This year, the meeting took place on the shores of Lake Baikal, majestic and stunning in her fall splendor. By all accounts, Sosnovka 2008 was more effective—and more fun—than any ever before. Here are a few accounts from our staff:

“It’s overwhelming really, the feeling of being in the epicenter of something great, of witnessing a movement coming into its own. After four days of intense work and fun with many of my professional heroes, the connection and loyalty I feel for these people and our joint work is weighty.” – Leah Zimmerman, Russia Program Director

“Everyone at Sosnovka is different, coming from unique cultural and professional backgrounds, and with the widest range of ideas and perspectives one can possibly imagine. No matter how heated the discussions were, how tired everyone felt, and how many thousands of miles separated their homes, they all shared two things—their deep, unconditional love for their vast and beautiful country, Russia, and their unspoken understanding that this love drives them all, together, as children of one family.” – Meerim Kylychbekova, Russia Program Associate

“Scientists, ecologists, activists, and a blend of every other -ist gathering
Once a year, in one location
Stretching 24-hour days, with 10-minute discussion warnings and the red-marker skull & bones to end verbosity,
Never losing the urgency of community dedication to
Overcoming the weight of an overburdened planet, with an occasional late-night pause for
Vodka-sipping, guitar-strumming, and hearts-a-brimming toasts to the
Kaleidoscope of save-the-world resolutions and personal life infusions—
An experience whose heart we tenderly ration for 364 days before the next.”
– Kore  Gleason, Russia Program Associate