Copenhagen blog 9: Carbon cake

Tim Jones, used to be policy officer, writes from Copenhagen

On Monday our climate debt invoice was confiscated inside the negotiations for being ‘too political’. This seemed odd; a politics Geiger counter would explode if it were in the Danish capital. We concluded it was less a case of ‘too political’ than too ‘the wrong kind of political’.

To be more in tune with those in power, we decided to get on message on Tuesday. As negotiators moved from room to room we offered them some World Development Movement carbon cake.

Our ‘carbon cake’ could only be eaten by those who had already consumed too much; rich countries. Meanwhile delegates from developing countries were turned away.

Kirsty’s voice echoed through the halls: “Roll up roll up, get your carbon cake here. The cake for those who’ve already had too much.” Delegates from North America and Europe scoffed themselves on our high-fat, high-sugar Danish treats. When they looked embarrassed at their good fortune we reassured them: “Don’t worry about the shame, give someone else the blame.”

Those from developing countries had a look of bafflement and anger when we refused to let them share in the cake treats. Telling them “If you don’t get justice inside the talks, you don’t get it outside the talks” didn’t reduce the anger levels.

Take action here if you are also angry about rich countries having their cake and eating it.