December 3 to 15, COP24 took place in Poland. It was held in Katowice, the chief city of Silesia, a large mining region in the south of the country.

Unlike what happened to us in Paris and Marrakesh at COP21 and COP22, but similar to Bonn at COP23, it wasn't possible for us to enter the Spodek (the conference centre which looks like a flying saucer) without press badges. We read later that negotiations were going to permit "the adoption of a user's manual for the Pact of Paris, detailing the rules allowing to implement the principles of the agreement" (1); even though "the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Kuwait and Russia have refused to have a favourable response to the report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).", which amounts to not wanting to "recognize the limitation of warming to 1.5 degrees as a political compass." (2)

So we browsed around the village, the neighbourhoods near the Spodek, and the region. We concentrated, naturally, on the district of Silesia, a coal mining region, of which coal is the motor and the symbol. We visited three abandoned coal mines that had be nicely transformed. In Katowice itself, a short distance from the COP, one is now the Slaskie Museum (distinguished by the European Museum of the Year prize in 2017), another farther along the street has turned into a gigantic shopping centre (Silesian City Center) and at Zabrze the Guido mine can be visited in its current state (cf the related report: Kopalnia-Guido Mine). We also visited coal-fired power plants: Rybnik, the most polluted city in Europe (3), and Belchatow, home to Europe's largest coal-fired power plant and one of the largest in the world (4), as well as the slightly dilapidated neighborhoods near the COP and the revalued and gentrifying neighborhood in Nikiszowiec. (5)

On the 8th of December, the day of the Climate March, we followed the demonstration from the city center (Plac Wolności: Freedom Square) to Spodek, where we had to keep our distance because it was surrounded by a numerous and very evident police force (cf topic: Walking for Climate). Are they thinking about the Gilets jaunes (cf subject: Kamizelek), which will be succeeded in Europe by the Belgians, the Dutch and the Poles? It must be mentioned that the events in France will be much discussed here and will bring Polish President Andrzej Duda to make a proposal just at the opening of the COP: the "Silesia Declaration for Solidarity and Just Transition". "We can not implement climate policies that are contrary to the will of society and at the expense of living conditions," said the PiS leader. This morning, while preparing for the COP, I turned on the television, I saw these images in the streets of Paris, I heard these ordinary people who do not feel taken into account", Mr. Duda told Le Monde, suggesting that Emmanuel Macron "refer to the declaration of the Just Transition, a modus operandi" to find the right balance between low carbon economy, job creation and quality of life. On Monday evening, nearly 40 countries joined the call for a just transition, according to a first count of the COP24 presidency. But many observers of the negotiations doubt the real willingness of the host country to initiate the shift of the decarbonisation of its economy." (6)

Finally, we give the floor to Loujain Kurdi from Greenpeace Canada. The highly visible NGO during COP24 (7) had established its quarters in an art gallery just in front of Spodek where COP24 was held.

COP24 ends without firm promises to raise climate action and ambition by Loujain Kurdi

December 14, 2018 (Katowice, POLAND) – Just two months after the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned we have 12 years left to save the world, COP24 ended with no clear promise of enhanced climate action. COP24 led to an approved Paris Agreement rulebook, but no clear, collective commitment to enhance climate action targets – Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – was reached despite expectations that Katowice would deliver step-change.

Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan said: “A year of climate disasters and a dire warning from the world’s top scientists should have led to so much more. Instead, governments let people down again as they ignored the science and the plight of the vulnerable. Recognizing the urgency of raised ambition and adopting a set of rules for climate action is not nearly enough when whole nations face extinction. Without immediate action, even the strongest rules will not get us anywhere. People expected action and that is what governments did not deliver. This is morally unacceptable and they must now carry with them the outrage of people and come to the UN Secretary General’s summit in 2019 with higher climate action targets.”

Greenpeace urges governments to ramp up action immediately and prove they have heard the demands of people. The IPCC report should be the call to action – action that matches the pace and scale of the threat. We continue to witness an irresponsible divide between the vulnerable island states and impoverished countries pitted against those who would block climate action or who are immorally failing to act fast enough. People are fed up, outraged at these injustices and are taking action to defend their homes and children and pushing their leaders to act. These people are the hope of our generation and governments must finally stand with them and give us all reasons for hope,” Morgan added.

Greenpeace Climate & Energy Campaigner, Patrick Bonin “If Paris set the destination, the rulebook is the roadmap to get there. We’ve now got a solid rulebook with binding common rules to ensure that climate actions can be compared and the concerns of vulnerable countries taken into account. Completing the rulebook demonstrates the resolve of major emerging economies to do more. It also signals clear support for multilateralism and that rules are still possible despite turbulent geopolitics. These rules now provide a backbone to the Paris Agreement and must be strengthened in coming years. On the other hand, Greepeace deplores the lack of a credible plan in Canada to reach the targets that the country has set with the Paris agreement: "It is obviously not by buying pipelines and trains to transport and export oil sands oil and increase oil and natural gas production as it anticipates that Canada will reach its targets," says Bonin.

Many COP corridor discussions have focused on the Yellow Vests crisis and France has been a counter-example for its inability to implement a just transition. French credibility on the climate agenda is also eroding due to poor national results, with rising emissions and declining targets. So far Emmanuel Macron is failing his responsibilities, namely to put the climate issue at the heart of a real social project. » (8)

(1) https://www.latribune.fr/economie/international/que-faut-il-retenir-de-la-cop24-801264.html
(2) https://www.greenpeace.fr/cop24-etats-manquent-nouvelle-occasion-de-repondre-a-lurgence-climatique/
(3) https://www.ouest-france.fr/monde/cop24-reportage-rybnik-la-ville-la-polluee-d-europe-6103890
(4) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrale_thermique_de_Be%C5%82chat%C3%B3w
(5) https://www.geo.fr/voyage/cop24-sur-les-traces-du-passe-minier-de-katowice-en-pologne-193648
(6) https://www.lemonde.fr/climat/article/2018/12/04/climat-la-pologne-reclame-une-transition-juste_5392473_1652612.html
(7) https://www.geo.fr/environnement/des-militants-de-greenpeace-escaladent-la-cheminee-de-la-plus-grande-centrale-a-charbon-de-lue-193623
(8) https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/fr/communique-de-presse/6795/cop-24-malgre-lurgence-les-etats-tournent-le-dos-aux-attentes-des-populations/

December 3 to 15, COP24 took place in Poland. It was held in Katowice, the chief city of Silesia, a large mining region in the south of the country.

Unlike what happened to us in Paris and Marrakesh at COP21 and COP22, but similar to Bonn at COP23, it wasn't possible for us to enter the Spodek (the conference centre which looks like a flying saucer) without press badges. We read later that negotiations were going to permit "the adoption of a user's manual for the Pact of Paris, detailing the rules allowing to implement the principles of the agreement" (1); even though "the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Kuwait and Russia have refused to have a favourable response to the report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).", which amounts to not wanting to "recognize the limitation of warming to 1.5 degrees as a political compass." (2)

So we browsed around the village, the neighbourhoods near the Spodek, and the region. We concentrated, naturally, on the district of Silesia, a coal mining region, of which coal is the motor and the symbol. We visited three abandoned coal mines that had be nicely transformed. In Katowice itself, a short distance from the COP, one is now the Slaskie Museum (distinguished by the European Museum of the Year prize in 2017), another farther along the street has turned into a gigantic shopping centre (Silesian City Center) and at Zabrze the Guido mine can be visited in its current state (cf the related report: Kopalnia-Guido Mine). We also visited coal-fired power plants: Rybnik, the most polluted city in Europe (3), and Belchatow, home to Europe's largest coal-fired power plant and one of the largest in the world (4), as well as the slightly dilapidated neighborhoods near the COP and the revalued and gentrifying neighborhood in Nikiszowiec. (5)