ELP Professor Richard Wallsgrove ’08 attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 24th Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP 24) in December 2018 with the UH Delegation. His reflections on the experience are below.

I was lucky to join a team of ELP students and faculty who traveled to Katowice, Poland to attend the second week of negotiating sessions at the UNFCCC’s 24th Annual Conference of the Parties (“COP 24”). The team was comprised of ELP students Miranda Steed ’19, Ryan McDermott ’19, Stacey Gray ’19, and Tiana Winstead ’19, along with Associate Dean and ELP faculty member Denise Antolini, and myself. The students represented the University of Hawaiʻi – a UNFCCC admitted observer NGO. Associate Dean Antolini was also part of a delegation from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (“IUCN”); she is Deputy Chair for the IUCNʻs World Commission on Environmental Law. 

The team was supported by ELP Scholar-in-Residence Dr. Christina Voigt, Professor of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo. Professor Voigt serves as a climate change negotiator for Norway. At COP 24, she was the co-facilitator for negotiations on the implementation and compliance portions of the Paris Agreement “rule book.” Working with Professor Voigt was a highlight for our team, as her expertise and guidance gave us an insider’s view into UNFCCC and the rule book negotiations. Another highlight was learning from ELP graduate Clement Mulalap ’10, now working in New York as a Legal Adviser to the Permanent Mission of the Federated States of Micronesia to the United Nations. At COP 24, Clement worked with the negotiating team for the Alliance of Small Island States (“AOSIS”). During COP 24’s twists and turns, speaking with people like Clement and Professor Voigt helped us to navigate the process, identify various parties’ negotiating points, and understand the underlying policy tensions.

The students have shared day-by-day highlights here, and Hawai‘i Public Radio interviewed student Miranda Steed here and Professor Voigt here. I encourage you to take a look and listen. You will find a representative slice of the diverse issues the students explored at COP 24 and a cautious optimism for the global response to climate change. I’ll add to the students’ list. Here are three of my COP 24 highlights:

1. Working with the students to understand the contours of a complex international agreement and negotiation. Each of the ELP students in Poland also took my course on International Environmental Law. One of the challenges in that course is finding ways to bring international perspectives and issues into a classroom firmly affixed to the ground in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. The students’ experience in Katowice solved that problem. It was impossible to traverse the sessions at COP 24 without gaining a broader perspective on how climate change policy is evolving in different ways around the world.

2. Learning more about climate change from experts around the globe. COP 24 involved more than 20,000 registered participants. In addition to negotiators, this means that the event was attended by thousands of government officials, policy experts, researchers, academics, and many others. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C was the subject of much discussion – and not just because at the halfway point of the negotiations – the United States joined Saudi Arabia and Russia to block UNFCCC parties from “welcoming” the Report. At COP 24, we learned from German experts about economic modeling based on various emissions trajectories at and above 1.5 °C , and about the effectiveness of various policy options. We learned from representatives from British Columbia, Chile, and elsewhere about how carbon pricing can help limit warming. One of our ELP students (Stacey Gray) is working with the Hawai‘i Commission on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation to report back on carbon pricing policy concepts and lessons that may be useful for Hawai‘i.

3. Making new connections. Obvious questions arise about the carbon emissions associated with traveling to a meeting intended to address climate change. For what it’s worth, the UNFCCC’s Climate Neutral Now program offers carbon offsets in exchange for supporting carbon-reducing development projects. ELP’s team received a donation in the form of carbon offsets purchased to support of a solar water heater project in India. But why incur the travel emissions at all? One answer: so that in the heat of the negotiations, the students can introduce themselves to Sue Biniaz (lead climate lawyer for the U.S. State Department during Paris Agreement negotiations) and Todd Sterns (U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change at the Paris COP), and ask a question about the students’ research project on Paris Agreement enforcement mechanisms. It’s to catch Professor Johan Rockström, from the Stockholm Resilience Center to talk about his research on planetary boundaries and how that concept applies in Hawai‘i. It’s to ask Professor Robert Howarth, an expert on methane emissions from Cornell University, about issues related to Hawai‘i’s policy on liquefied natural gas imports. It’s to get the benefit of participating in daily updates from the affectionately named “RINGO” constituency – admitted observers from research and independent non-governmental organizations. One of the RINGO leaders and COP veteran, Professor Tracy Bach from Vermont Law School, generously shared her time to teach us about her experience building a service learning project for law students at COP meetings. Professor Dan Bodansky from Arizona State University was equally generous with his time and insight. ELP students found opportunities to discuss climate issues with students from law schools in Vermont, New York, Arizona, Connecticut, and elsewhere. It is difficult to imagine a better networking opportunity than a COP.

MANY THANKS.

In summary, ELP’s experience at its first COP was extraordinary. We hope to build on this learning opportunity in the future. Our team is deeply grateful for the support of the Law School and the University of Hawai‘i’s Office of Sustainability. We are equally grateful to DeVries & Associates, and the Environment, Energy and Resources Section of the Hawai‘i State Bar Association, who each provided financial support to help with the students’ travel costs.