Insights and Commentaries
Telling the CCS story at the Talanoa Dialogue
18th May 2018
Topic(s): Economics, law and regulation, Policy
Earlier this month, the Global CCS Institute was invited to participate to the Talanoa Dialogue in Bonn, this as part of the ‘preparatory phase’ of the climate talks to be held at COP24 next December in Poland.
Launched at COP23 Presidency of Fiji, the Talanoa Dialogue follows the Pacific tradition of storytelling and breaks away from the formal aspect of climate negotiations. It invites Parties and non-Party stakeholders to come together, share their stories, knowledge, best practices and solutions to combat climate change.
As part of the Talanoa Dialogue, hundreds of stakeholders from around the world submitted their inputs by addressing three central questions: Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get here?
The Institute also submitted its contribution earlier this year addressing these key questions and the role CCS should play in global climate action. The Institute was among the organisations selected to participate to the Sunday Talanoas being held in Bonn on May 6.
A total of seven Talanoa groups with about 35 participants each, consisting of both Party and non-Party stakeholder representatives, gathered in a very unconventional setting in Bonn. Sitting in circle for a Fijian-style storytelling session surrounded by traditional ceremonial objects, the Institute’s Executive Adviser for Europe John Scowcroft shared the Institute’s story and his own personal tale on the critical role of CCS in global climate action.
Watch a video of this group session at the Talanoa Dialogue here.
For the Institute, this was a unique opportunity to participate to the dialogue process and bring a CCS voice to climate talks. It was also the perfect occasion to highlight the pressing need to accelerate the deployment of CCS to reduce industrial emissions from ‘hard to decarbonise sector’ such as steel, paper and cement.
Read the Institute’s submission to the Talanoa Dialogue here.
The input from the Talanoas will provide an important foundation for ministerial discussions at COP24.
As we gear up towards the political phase of the talks at COP24, the Institute hopes to continue to participate to this open dialogue and turn CCS talk into global climate action.