UN Climate Conference in Poznan

Tuesday 2nd December
After a 25-hour coach journey through Berlin, I arrived in Poznan, Poland on Monday 1st. Tuesday was exhausting; after registering, gathering materials, and finding the NGO and delegation offices, we finally attended a reception in the EU Pavilion.
I attended one interesting Side Event on ''Carbon Capture and Storage''' organised by the European Commission. A representative from Shell promoted the benefits of CCS Technology, but another speaker admitted that the technology would not be able to contribute to emission cuts before 2020. Members of the audience were dubious, questioning whether there are enough geological sites to store captured CO2. Shell urged for EU funding to be available for demonstrations. I asked a question to the panel: whether limited resources and EU funding would not be better spent on renewable energy technologies that are already tried and tested? Unfortunately the representative from Shell misrepresented my question, and started talking about the economic climate. Another member of the audience questioned whether investing in CCS would tie us into fossil fuel consumption in building new coal plants, before the technology is even ready. The problem is that permission may be given for a new generation of coal plants that are ''capture ready'' with no guarantee that the technology will be fitted. This seems to be contentious subject. I noticed the EU Pavilion is hosting several events this week promoting CCS.
It was an interesting start to the week and fantastic to be in the atmosphere of the United Nations Conference. It was also interesting to see the delegation offices. Most developing countries do not have any designated office space, which contrasts with the large space for Europe and North America.