The Final Day of the Beginning

13 December 2015 | Category: COP21

12 December 11.40. The suspense is rising. I am sitting in the overflow room – one of the big plenary rooms where we can watch the action of the Paris Committee on screen. The meeting is scheduled for 11.30 but we do not know if there will ‘just’ be the…

Bridging week 1 and 2 of COP21

8 December 2015 | Category: COP21

Saturday5  December. Morning. I see to my great amazement the first twitter I see having just in Paris is that the ADP text, the draft negotiation text, has been submitted to ministers. The French presidency had set Saturday as a deadline for the negotiations on the text to be concluded…

Logistical struggles

1 December 2015 | Category: COP21

After arriving by train in Paris last night, I immediately travelled through to the COP venue at Le Bourget, which is just outside of the city centre. The whole train ride was hopelessly delayed because of copper thefts on the Belgium railroad. But thinking I could quickly swing by the…

Wageningen UR presents itself at COP21

1 December 2015 | Category: COP21

This morning, Wageningen UR presented itself at the Dutch Climate House at COP21. Unfortunately, our Chair of the Board of Directors, Louise Fresco, who was supposed to open and introduce the meeting, could not make it, due to severe delays of the Thalys between Brussels and Paris yesterday. All the…

The climate summit has begun…

30 November 2015 | Category: COP21

Had a special meeting at Place d’Anvers, near the Sacré-Coeur, last night. I went to have dinner with two students from the ‘green office’ of Wageningen University (and one student is the son of good friends of mine, which made it even more special). They are here in Paris to…

FLARE and COP21

28 November 2015 | Category: COP21

Paris lives and shivers (a little). At first the state of emergency is barely noticed. However, when talking to people they say they feel ‘different’. For me it was different as well, the trip from Gare du Nord to the city centre I felt a bit more tensed than other…