Looking ahead to COP29 with J. Drake Hamilton

The 2024 U.N. Climate Conference, also known as COP, will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11 through November 22. J. Drake Hamilton, senior director, science policy at Fresh Energy, will be one of the more than 40,000 participants from around the globe to attend.

On November 1, J. sat down with Fresh Energy's Isak Kvam to unpack what she sees as some of the biggest goals for COP29. You can stay up to date with J.'s experience at COP via her daily blog here.

Register to join us for a post-COP29 webinar debrief with J. on December 3 at 11 a.m. Participants will join J. to debrief outcomes from COP29 and ask questions about the event after her return to the United States.

Give to the Max Day is November 21! Schedule your donation to Fresh Energy today.

Fresh Energy’s mission is to shape and drive bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies. Together we are working toward a vision of a just, prosperous, and resilient future powered by a shared commitment to a carbon-neutral economy. Learn about Fresh Energy's work and our bold "Vision 2030: Fresh Energy's Strategic Framework" at our website fresh-energy.org.


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Transcript

Jo Olson: [00:00:11] Hello and welcome to Decarbonize the Clean Energy Podcast from Fresh Energy. Fresh energy is a Minnesota nonprofit working to speed our state's transition to a clean energy economy. My name is Jo Olson. I'm the lead director of communications and engagement at Fresh Energy. And today, I'm here to share with you a conversation that my colleague on the communications team, Isaac Quam, had with Fresh Energy's senior director of science policy, J.  Drake Hamilton, before she hopped on a plane to Azerbaijan for Cop 29. Thanks for tuning in, and if you want to hear more from J. , you can register to join us in real time, virtually on zoom for J. 's Post Cop 29 debrief webinar on December 3rd. You can register at Fresh Energy. Org slash events. And now to the recording.

Isak Kvam: [00:01:05] Hello everyone and welcome. My name is Isac Kvam. I am the senior communications associate and writer for Fresh Energy. Um. And I am joined by my colleague J. Drake Hamilton. J is the senior director of science policy at Fresh Energy. And we're going to be talking today about Cop 29, the annual global climate Conference. For those of you meeting fresh energy for the first time, we are a Minnesota based nonprofit working toward a vision of a just, prosperous and resilient future powered by a shared commitment to a carbon neutral economy. A little bit of housekeeping before we kick things off. If you have any questions during today's webinar, um, zoom has this great Q&A feature that works even better. So you can click on the Q&A button at the bottom of your screen during today's webinar and type any questions you have in there. We've left a good amount of time at the end of today's webinar for answering your questions, so please use that Q&A button at the bottom of your zoom window to ask any COP 29 questions you have throughout the webinar. Um, as I mentioned, I'm Isaac and I am joined by J.  today. Um, J. , you've been to quite a few COP summits now can you? How many have you been to? And can you give us a brief update about, uh, COP 28?

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:02:27] This will be my ninth COP. And what COP stands for is the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the parties. The parties are countries that have signed the treaty back from 1992, signed in Rio de Janeiro. It's called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The United States is one of the signatories. The United States, the United Nations decided to make the rule for anything to be adopted by UN. It has to pass through consensus. That means every party to this treaty must agree to every line and every word of a document. And I'll give you an example of that later. But after all that, that rule of consensus makes sense. It will take all nations of the world to address this existential threat to our thriving on this planet. The whole point about climate action is it won't work unless it includes all of the world. These UN conferences used to be fairly small, with 10,000 or so participants. My first COP was Cop 11, held in Montreal, and I was asked by a national Energy and climate non-governmental organization, and in 2005, which was the year of this conference, I'd already been working for Fresh energy for ten years. And that meant I know. I knew at that time everyone in the country who was working on climate action, and they all knew Minnesota had a place at these COPs. So I brought along with me my intern, who then was in her early 20s to Montreal, and she went in a room with about 400 youth from around the world, and they selected her to be their leader for the COP.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:04:34] Lindsay Dahl did a wonderful job. My big role there in Montreal was that every evening I was invited to small dinners, never more than 12 people, featuring some of the leaders of some of the countries of the world and some U.S. senators. I remember meeting the newly elected leader of Canada. I was hooked by the access I had. It became clear to me that the best path forward was to reach for fresh energies, highest lever of access, and pull it with all of our strength to get maximum progress on honoring this climate treaty. On my first day in Montreal, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press editor called me up and asked me to submit an op ed that was published when I was still in Montreal in the following week's Pioneer Press. My second and most impressive COP for all the world who benefited was at Cop 21, held in Paris in 2015. I was asked to speak about President Barack Obama's speech at a global press conference. And that was pretty impressive. President Obama was in Paris, one of 155 presidents who were under the same roof for the first time ever. And since the Paris Agreement was signed by 195 countries and was the biggest climate change set of decisions so far in the world since Paris, this will now be my ninth COP.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:06:31] Last year's COP in 2023 was in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and was the largest ever 100,000 participants at every COP. I have had access to the head of the U.S. negotiating delegation I meet with them with a small group of no more than 12 people? 12 Americans. And they always say Minnesota is always one of the states that matters. I have learned about diplomacy directly from the special Presidential Envoy for climate, who used to be John Kerry. I met with him one on one in Paris, Glasgow, Egypt and in Dubai. And he has been very instructive to me. Now, this slide shows you the heart of what was decided last year in Dubai. The UAE consensus is really a consensus. It is a single space document of less than four dozen pages, single spaced. And it calls for unprecedented transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner, with the aim to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. When I say it was unprecedented, it was the first time the words fossil fuel ever were documented in a conference, and it also calls for globally tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 and also by 2030, doubling global energy efficiency. These are central parts of the UAE consensus, and agreed to by every one of 198 parties at Dubai.

Isak Kvam: [00:08:48] Thanks, J. . I know it sounds like this year will be a lot different than last year. Can you set the scene for COP 29? When is it? Where is it? Who's hosting it? Who's going to be there? All the nuts and bolts of this year's climate conference.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:09:03] Well, it is called Cop 29. It will be held November 11th through November 22nd. So just ten days from now, Cop will be ongoing, possibly with 40,000 or so participants. Um, it will increase pressure on world leaders to deliver the climate finance required for much more aggressive, bolder climate action. We need a fair and ambitious climate finance outcome to underpin future progress to get there. We're going to need a new level of what's been called radical collaboration. So what does that look like? The International Renewable Energy Agency was tasked with monitoring progress on the UAE consensus. They issued. You may have seen this on the front page of our paper in October, a special annual report on how we're doing called the Emissions Gap Report. And at that time, the UN climate Change Executive secretary, whose name is Simon Steele, said, well, we've been meeting for intensively through June 2024 for two weeks trying to get ourselves ready in Baku, Azerbaijan, to reach success. And his quote was, we've left ourselves with a steep, a very steep mountain to climb to achieve ambitious outcomes in Baku. So this map shows you where. Azerbaijan is. And the inset shows you where Baku is. Azerbaijan is a small Petro state on the Caspian Sea, nestled between Russia and Iran, and borders the countries of Georgia and Armenia. It is out of the way under authoritarian rule and hyper dependent on fossil fuels.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:11:18] It is a country of about 10 million people. When I'm there, the US Department of State tells me that I'll be under a level two travel advisory due to due to terrorism alerts, but things you should know about Baku. Back in 1902, when oil was discovered there, um, 50% of the world's oil came from Baku. Now, today, Azerbaijan produces fewer barrels of oil per day than Britain. So the next slide will show you some of the leaders in Azerbaijan. All right. So the president of Azerbaijan is known as His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev. President Aliyev is a strong man. There will be 40%, $40 billion of investment from fossil fuel companies in Azerbaijan over the next ten years. Those profits will stay within the presiding Aliyev family regime. It will not go to meet needs of the most impoverished citizens in charge of the COP. The president of Cop 29 is His Excellency Mukhtar Babayev. He is currently the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources for Azerbaijan. He's about 56 years old, so he's the one I will see most frequently now. It's interesting because in Azerbaijan they have set up and made it a part of the process that they're going to include a troika of presidents from COPs. They will have the past president of Cop 28, the president from Cop 29, and they'll have the president from Brazil, which will be, um, held in Belgium.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:13:47] The negotiations and Cop 29 events are at Baku Stadium, a sports stadium. And it's very interesting because the days from November 11th through November 22nd, every single day will include negotiations segments. There will be one day off Sunday, November 18th, November 17th, but otherwise it will be a very fast paced conference. Um, now, critics have said that Azerbaijan shouldn't be the host. They don't like the way the country makes its money and they don't like its government. They won't be convinced otherwise. We could, if we wish, move to holding climate conferences and negotiations only in and with countries we see in our own image, we'll find we wouldn't have a planet left in an even shorter amount of time than we might. So yes, fossil fueled Azerbaijan, as a signer of the UN treaty, should host COP, not least when they are putting their gas made money now into renewable energy. So first I should mention that Azerbaijan is the world's first Petro state. And that's why on the previous slide, you saw Alfred Nobel of the Peace Prize fame. He made his name and fortune in the 19th century through selling oil in Baku as well as guns. Azerbaijan still makes most of its money and powers its economy through fossil fuels. It is transitioning away from the addiction.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:15:40] Um, it is also a major supplier of gas to Europe. Azerbaijan is making significant moves into offshore wind on the Caspian Sea, and one of the the world's largest solar arrays is under construction by the UK's company BP. Um, so it is not a good look for Western countries to be lecturing on the importance of immediate transition away from fossil fuels, when so many of us are heading in the wrong direction ourselves. So this emission gas report that I mentioned that came out about two weeks ago, it's verdict of the UN on climate progress over the past year said there was no progress. Um, but we know that the world leaders made a landmark promise to move away from fossil fuels. I think it's what's happening with politics in the US and all over the world that has made some very more rapid, more aggressive actions have not taken place yet, but we're waiting for that. So, um, um, what is interesting, though, is that the UAE consensus says we must cover all greenhouse gases and make all of those greenhouse gases go down as well. So two major issues will be on the table in Baku money and financing and new, more aggressive climate targets. And at his end of a press conference, Simon Steel, the executive secretary of the Unfcc, said we have only about two years to save the world.

Isak Kvam: [00:17:42] I know, I know, and we've talked together. J. , you've mentioned a lot of ways that this year's Cop conference might be different than years past. And you've been talking about this so far, but what in what ways do you think Cop 29 this year will be a lot different than a year ago, and what do you feel like is going well leading into Cop 29?

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:18:01] There's a lot going. Well, first of all is the executive secretary of the Framework Convention, Simon Steel. He is terrific. Um, he is essential for negotiating the current opportunities to substantially increase climate finance across to the developing world. And he has said to Cop 29, and this is a quote, must be a stand and deliver COP to close on the financing gap and the problem of what is now called a new term, new collective, quantifiable goals that has to be laid out entirely in Baku. So another good thing is that within 2022, developing countries jointly mobilize that year $115.9 billion for finance. And that was beating their target of 100 billion. But it was two years late. So but that was a good sign for Cop 29. The top climate negotiator, the top climate diplomat for the US is John Podesta. And he is a great choice at Cop 28. As I said before, 198 nations approved the UAE consensus calling for transitioning away from fossil fuels and accelerating climate action this decade. Simon Steele thinks that is his watchword, but some things are not going very well. The US is producing record amounts of oil. We are now the world's largest Petro state. I know that you usually don't think of us as a Petro state, but we're the biggest. The US is currently the world's biggest supplier of gas and is constructing new natural gas plants. A growing share of the world's power, however, will come from clean sources, including solar panels and wind turbines. Last year alone in 2023, nearly 86% of the new power generation built worldwide came from clean Sources. That's fantastic news. But the catastrophic effects of climate change are with us. Obvious to all of us.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:20:43] They are killing people. It's a grave situation. The good news. By 2030, the US under President Biden has committed to decrease greenhouse gases by 50 to 52% below 2005 levels. He's pledged to annually add to our roads 13 million electric vehicles. He is going to reach 100% carbon free electricity by 2035. And the US will achieve a net zero emissions economy by 2050. That's why when you've been listening to fresh energy a lot and reading the news a lot, you see it's time to change our electricity mix. It's time to make substantial, now more cost effective home improvements, to update our transportation and to get cleaner air in our areas. Since the passage in 2022 of the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. has created nationwide. Get this more than 330,000 clean energy jobs in the US. There has been an 8% to 19% income increase for workers in just the last two years. And the Cop presidencies troika, these three people, they have said, made three contributions. Number one, they are organizing at Cop 29, a methane and non-co2 greenhouse gas summit to. Capture the other greenhouse gases. Secondly the COP. 29 presidency calls on developed countries like the US. To show significant progress on at least doubling adaptation finance. By 2025 and underscores the need to balance adaptation finance and mitigation finance. We need both of these. The third thing the Cop. 29 presidency has said is they welcome the countries of the G7's support for climate action, including its commitment to submit 1.5 degrees C, the limit of that in their new climate action plans, and that these will phase out existing unabated coal power generation. During the first half of the 2030s. So these are big commitments.

Isak Kvam: [00:23:40] Okay. I know there's there's a lot of climate conversations that happen concurrently at Cop each year. What do you think are the most important things that must be agreed upon during Cop 29?

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:23:51] Well, the very first of these is covered, I think, in the next slide, and that there is a deadline set and the deadline is set for February 10th, 2025. And that is for every country that's a signer of this treaty to come out with new, much more aggressive climate action plans informed by the science and fostering the huge investments needed to flow from private capital to developing countries. So what this means is that a critical issue for negotiation is this new term. I've been using the new collective quantified goal, which is usually news used by the shorthand n c, q g doesn't exactly like roll off your tongue. This is about climate finance, and that this must be adopted in Baku, and would help set the agenda for reliable finance flows consistent with the climate goals outlined back in 2015, in the Paris Agreement. So at Cop 29, in Baku, negotiators will decide the terms of this must decide the terms of this. And it is critical to keep a 1.5 degree C Sea world within reach for everyone. So the clue the sCOPe includes mitigation measures, adaptation measures and loss and damage, and finding a way to be very transparent about all that and to create metrics that we can track to actually see that we're reaching where we need to go. We need to go further and faster. The other term to use is speed and scale. So included in what we need to do, we need to set have every country set ambitious emissions reductions targets for 2030 and as well for 2035.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:26:14] And these goals should be in line with getting to net zero by 2050 goals. That is, they need to come up with very specific, measurable and trackable goals. And they need much stronger targets in key sectors, especially the energy sector and food systems. And we need to get policies to catalyse investment and spur implementation. And we need to do all of this. Every country needs to have a stronger focus on their people and communities, not just at the federal level, but at all levels. So in summary, the elements for success at Cop 29 and beyond are we need more from ambition to impact. Cop 29 must be decisive moment for our climate future. We need to commit to advocate for the climate finance we need now. At Cop 28, we. The goal was by 2030, we must amp up our renewable energy three times more than what we have now and two times more energy efficiency. So to do that, we're going to need real sustained, um, action by every country. So what do we will we be looking for? Well, the first thing I'll tell you is that at COP 29, um, we have 11 days and days two and three November 12th and 13 are the World Leaders Climate Action Summit in Paris. When we had this, 155 presidents showed up. I don't know how many people will show up, but they were personally invited by the president of Azerbaijan, not by the Cop president.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:28:25] So they took it up another level and that was really important. All right. The two major issues on the table in Baku are money and new climate targets for finance. Well, we need to get this is according to, um. Well, first of all, I'll set this up for you. The national climate plans that are due on February 10th, 2025, and many of the leaders of G7 countries have already said we will get our new climate plans to the other parties before they're due in February 10th. That's good news, because the current climate plans fall far short of the Ambition. They mean that they put the world on track. Of temperature rise in the range of not less than 1.5 degrees C, but in the range of 2.5 to 2.9 degrees C, which would be disastrous. Now, how much money do we need to have flowing from developing nations to developed nations to pay them for loss and damage? The UAE decision back in Cop 28 said that the amount of money needed in this period through 2030 is about $9.5 trillion. The only way to get that amount of money is not coming from countries, because most countries can't afford that. Where this money lies is in private investment possibilities. That is why when I worked for the last four years with John Kerry, what he said at every opportunity, which was dozens of times at every COP, he told people where we need to get this money is from private investment. And that means that every country that's coming in with a brand new, much more aggressive climate action plan has to also be aware of where they're going to get the money.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:30:51] And so they need to talk to private investors. So we need a decision at Cop 29 to change continuation of the Paris Agreement and make public finance commitments from developed countries to developing countries. And one of I have a lot of friends who go to COPs, and I've known some of them for 25 years. And they say that we need to take very seriously this transition away from fossil fuels. And they point out that continued production and export of fossil fuels accounts for about 70% of the climate problem. That's why we need to take this, have this in our focus, and we can't let this transition away. Paragraph in the UAE consensus die. We need to make sure it happens. That means countries like the US and regions like EU and others need to make about 60% or two thirds cuts in the fossil fuel they use. These are big cuts. That's what we mean when we talk about a bold, more aggressive climate plan from China, which is overall the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases of all types, needs to make a 30% cut from current peak level of fossil fuel use. They need to commit to that in Baku. So this is a very serious set of negotiations. And please put your questions in the Q&A because I'm going to be ending this presentation with this quote.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:32:57] Many of you may have been at the October 9th Fresh Energy Benefit Breakfast just a couple of weeks ago. And our keynote speaker there was Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist who has a PhD. And she recently wrote a book that she was talking about, and she named her book. What if we get it right? And she wasn't writing that. What she said to us at our breakfast. She wasn't saying it just because she was hopeful we would get it right. She said, what's more important is not how hopeful you are. What's important is how useful you are in making sure that everyone you know in the US starting out needs to start implementing the clean energy technologies that are now widely available to us and much more affordable to us. Thanks to US Congress passing the strongest climate legislation anywhere in the world at any time. And the word that Ayanna likes to use in her book, and she used it again at her breakfast. She said the sexiest word in the English language is implementation. So when I'm talking about how we decide whether the Baku, Azerbaijan COP was successful, we need to see by September February 10th, 2025 that we have a set of bold, ambitious new climate plans from every party who's a signer to this treaty and shows that we can make the implementation and get the finance flows needed to make it work. So thank you very much and I would love to hear some of your questions.

Isak Kvam: [00:35:06] Thanks, J. . Everyone, you can leave your questions by using the Q&A button in the bottom. And I'll piggyback off of what J.  was just saying. I strongly recommend you check out Doctor Ayana Elizabeth Johnson's new book. It's really great if you want to see a recording of what she discussed during our benefit breakfast earlier this month, you can visit our YouTube channel to watch that. And it's also currently the top story on the home page of our website. And it's also available on our blog, so you can go there to check it out there. Um, before we dive into the Q&A, there are just a few housekeeping things that I want to share with you all, and then we'll jump into the questions. And the first is that it is already, um, give to the max day is coming up. Um, if you live in Minnesota, you're probably very familiar with this this year. Give to the Max day is on November 21st, but you can schedule your donations starting today, November 1st. I think today is actually the first day that it officially opens, so think about fresh energy on give to the max day or before. And then a reminder that this is part one of a two part webinar series.

Isak Kvam: [00:36:19] The next webinar will be after J.  returns from Cop 29 and will be holding that on Tuesday, December 3rd. So I hope everyone can join us for that. If you registered for today's webinar, you're automatically registered and will receive reminders for the next webinar. Um, but if you somehow joined today without registering, you can still register by visiting Fresh Energy. Org slash Cop 29 or by going to our website and visiting our events webpage. And lastly, a few people have asked if they could listen to or view this webinar after this morning and we are recording today's webinar. Um, we'll be sharing it on the Fresh Energy YouTube channel, our podcast called decarbonize. And we'll also be following up with an email to those that are registered with a link to the recording, which you should receive later this afternoon. Okay, now let's dive into the Q&A session. Our first question. And J. , you talked about this a bit, but will this year's Cop 29 be dealing with agricultural solutions for climate change. Or will it mainly be about fossil fuels? I know that there's a lot of a lot of conversations that happen all simultaneously during Cop 29, but is there anything about agricultural solutions this year?

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:37:37] Yes, definitely. Now, of course, a lot of agriculture is made work currently with fossil fuels. So there is a very strong collaboration between those two. But every part of our economy is going to be examined at Cop in Baku, because we know that to address not just CO2, but all the rest of the greenhouse gases, which we need to take down rapidly, we need to do everything we can. So remember, what I always tell every audience is it's not like there's one magical solution to this problem. I think I can count like about a thousand solutions that we need. The good news is about 85% of those solutions already exist and are sometimes the cheapest way to move forward. So agriculture will definitely be a part of every almost every discussion. Because remember what Simon Steele said was we need to really double down on the energy sector, which is mostly about fossil fuels, but we need to come up with a climate action plan for our nation that really focuses in on food systems, which is agriculture.

Isak Kvam: [00:39:03] We have another question. What are you personally most looking forward to during this year's climate conference.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:39:11] Yes. And this will be this will be a really different COP, because last year was in UAE and there were 100,000 people there. And Dubai has a lot of money and has a lot of space and was letting almost everyone who said they wanted to come in. That has not been the case in this COP. So what I've now, I've now talked to many organizations from universities around Minnesota and nonprofits all over the country, and they're saying, we're not getting as many badges as we have in the past. Most, most organizations are getting one batch. That's what fresh energy has always had one bat. But the reason for that is that many of the people who wanted to come to pass COPs are people from developing nations. And they said and they said to UN, the UN and made their case they need room for them. And so it's not all about making sure you maximize the number of Minnesotans or even the number of Americans. We need to have people from all parts of the economy, from every country in the world. And there's a maximum number of that you can have in Azerbaijan. It's pretty high, but it's it's I don't think it's anything like 100,000. So I expect there will be more like 40,000.

Isak Kvam: [00:40:43] Do you feel like momentum has shifted over the last year in implementing climate solutions, as we head into the new climate conference?

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:40:51] Yes. Um, but it's not been as fast as some people hope. You know the numbers. I said that we have created about 330,000 jobs in the past two years in clean energy and climate action in the US, and that's good news. But we need even more. You know, you've probably heard the stat, the statistic that we need about a million more electricians in the US to put in these new technologies. And fortunately, we just got some money coming into Minnesota to tribes who are doing a training for energy auditors. And we've helped get that money into Minnesota. And that's great. But we need more faster. So we need the speed and scale. So we need to do much, much more. And everyone who is in a, in a place of a place of speaking publicly, which is almost everyone in the UN, they keep saying we need to speed up and scale up this transition and saying it to every country.

Isak Kvam: [00:42:08] And this kind of ties into that. But you talked earlier about Doctor Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Hope. How hopeful are you, that Cop 29 can achieve the goals that it's kind of set? I know earlier you were talking about everything that needs to happen during this year's conference. How hopeful are you that they can get it all done in 11 days?

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:42:27] Yes. Well, I am an optimist, but I'm an optimist who's been to a lot of these COPs and always see a lot of progress at the COPs. And because I'm watching sometimes right over their shoulder, some of the negotiators, sometimes I get to see some of the conversations they're having, and I know how hard they're working and how smart they're working. And they have they have fires lit under them now because as climate change becomes more and more evident in every nearly every place in the world. People know that this is something we need to prioritize, and we need to make successful decisions as soon as possible. So that's why I'm optimistic, because I've seen a lot of moves forward, especially since 2015, in every year, since 2015. And I would say that one thing that makes me be confident and hopeful is that our leading climate negotiator, our leading climate diplomat, John Podesta, he has been to China many times since he took over as the climate diplomat in March of this year. He's been to China many times because he knows a lot of the work through with a bilateral discussion between the US and China is can be very fruitful and we need to reach the basics of that bilateral discussion before Baku starts.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:44:16] So I'm hoping we're going to hear some positive things come out of that, because if China doesn't move forward, or if the US doesn't move forward, or if the EU is going to move forward even faster than they already say they are going to. Without those happening, we won't have any chance. And what I heard in Dubai last year, I never was in any conversation or heard any conversation at which people were talking about bringing forth our best, boldest, most ambitious ideas in every sector. Everyone. Every one of the. Now, I didn't meet 100,000 people, but I probably had conversation with several hundred people who were new to me, and they all feel the fire lit below them and they know what we need to do. So that is good news, but also hearing from other people in their country, um, over the next few weeks will be really important to to the people in Baku to know that many people are very concerned about this problem and expecting them to come through and deliver real big results.

Isak Kvam: [00:45:43] Um, we have a question that's asking if you will be doing the daily blog again this year.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:45:50] Yes, I love the daily blog and Isaac is very helpful in editing those blogs I write and posting them for all of you to see. So every day that I'm at that, maybe even the vacation day, um, depending on what I see in Baku or who I talk to when I'm in Baku, every day I will be posting a blog and this will tell you what I really liked about what I saw. In some cases, what I really didn't like seeing and hearing that really made me very alarmed. I will tell you those things too. I'll include some pictures so you get a sense. And then if you tune in with us on Tuesday, December 3rd, you can ask me direct questions about what really happened. And the thing to keep in mind is not all the journalists who cover COPs tell the whole story because they're interested in the most. Um. And the things that are hardest, I think. So in, um, in Dubai, for example, there was a lot of coverage of fossil fuels. And finally we came through and got a fossil fuel transition statement agreed to by consensus. But, um, that's just one step. Um, so you need to ask what else is happening, because not everything is as well covered by the journalists who are there.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:47:28] So I get to hear some things. I try to listen with a very open mind to a lot of people, and that's what's allowed me to speak with some confidence about things that I don't see on the front pages of newspapers, but are still very real. And believe me, when you ask for a consensus and you bring forward a document that sometimes is 50 pages, single spaced, and every one of 198 countries has to agree on every word, on every page. That's a big deal. Imagine that coming out for your work. You know, in your business, um, that's hard to do. That's a really important step forward. And that is also why it's important that this COP is being held in a fossil fuel nation, in a Petro state, because Petro states have signed on to this treaty, too. And they have they have a chance to host these events, and we need to get them to agree with us. And how are we going to get them to agree with us without getting to know them, talking with them, having our diplomats talk to them and have them use Use negotiating points that work well with those targets.

Isak Kvam: [00:49:02] All right. Our next question is what does your day to day schedule look like at Cop 29? I don't know if you have a bit to share about kind of a day in the life for what it's like, but what is your typical day look like when you're at these events?

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:49:16] Yes, well, I'm usually at the COP itself, so that would be at Baku Stadium. I usually get there around eight in the morning because I like I'm an early morning person and I'm usually there till about six at night or sometimes until ten at night. Um, um, but I also go to other places and I want to go to other places, like sometimes there are other convention centers or there are other hotels where other groups are meeting, and I want to get myself invited to some of those two because I want to see what those people are talking about and put in at least a few words from Fresh Energy's perspective of what direction those should take. Um, so they're very full days. Um, and every time I look around, I see people I already know, or there are people who I recognize and I go up and introduce myself, take a selfie with them and ask them to have coffee with me later, or they come to me and ask me to have coffee with them. That's what's been most eye opening for me. The very first COP I went to way back in 2005, when I told a big group of people where I was from, people came to see me 20 minutes later when the meeting had ended and they said, we heard you're from Minnesota, would you have coffee with us, like, right now? And? And these were people I had never met before. They came from 20 countries I've never been to. And they all spoke really good English.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:51:07] Um, and not only did they know about the geography of the world, but they especially knew the political geography of the United States. And it was fascinating in 2005 to have people come up to me when they found out I was from Minnesota, and they started calling me J.  right away. And they said, J. , we know how the the federal government of the United States works, and we know it doesn't really matter where the most progressive community in California or in liberal Massachusetts, what policies they support. What is really important is for four states in the United States that are more purple states. And I got to thinking what they were saying, and I think they were right, because they were saying in Minnesota, in Wisconsin, in Illinois and Michigan, all purple states, all states that have a variety of greenhouse gas emissions coming from most of the sectors of the economy. And as those people from other countries who were introducing themselves to me know about how US politics works, if they hear positive things coming about certain policies from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois or Michigan or all four, that's when a policy is more likely to move through our US Congress. And those people are not wrong. And that is why I've been able to get fresh energy. And Minnesota actors who come to COPs on global stages because we come from those important states. And that is true. And so I know that Minnesota is moving faster than most states in the US. On spending IRA money.

Speaker4: [00:53:19] To.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:53:20] Improve our climate action and our clean energy action, especially for environmental justice communities. Um, and it was interesting when 20 years ago, I heard those same things coming from small countries that I didn't even know where they were located in Africa, that they knew more about my political geography than I had know. So that was eye opening. And that is why I get energized by going to COP, because the more people I know from many places, the better informed I am, and the more the better I can do get my work done and fresh energy can get our work done.

Isak Kvam: [00:54:06] So you've been going to Cop since 2005? I think you said your first year was. Yes. We have a question here that's asking how your role at Cop 29, representing fresh energy has changed over the years. If it has.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:54:19] Well, it's been it was very strange to me because when I first went to COP, I had never been to one, didn't know what to expect. And when I arrived in Montreal at the airport, I was going through customs, and I saw all these large posters up about various solutions to climate change. But by the end of the two weeks there, I found out that a lot of people wanted to talk to me when they found out I was from Minnesota. So I knew that Minnesota was top in a lot of countries thinking. So that was interesting. And then I also learned that suddenly I was getting invited to dinners with, um, in 2005, Stephen Harper had just been elected to be the Prime Minister of Canada. He wasn't the seated Prime Minister yet. I was invited to dinner with Steve Harper, Stephen Harper, back when he was very much more liberal than he came to be in ten years. Um, and that was fascinating. Why was I selected for that? Um, and it is because I've spent a lot of time in my career getting to know a large number of people and been able to make the case that I and my organization, Fresh Energy, is very credible Because we only use fact based analyses, and we look very broadly, and we're trying to make sure that everyone will benefit from policies that we support. And so I've never had problem getting on a stage at Cop. Um, and it's because I listen more than I talk. And then I will talk. Um, but what I'm trying to do is have conversations and convince people that there may be another way to think about this problem and solutions to the problem.

Isak Kvam: [00:56:27] So I think we have time for about one more question here. So in 1 or 2 minutes, um, what do you think are some of the biggest climate wins we've had over the past year? So speaking to some of the progress we've made over the last year.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:56:43] Um, I think I'm going to use Minnesota as an example, because remember last year when I went to Dubai, I had a whole one hour on the global stage to talk with other Minnesotans about why Minnesota was number one state in climate action. And that was a hard gig to get, but it was really true. I was very proud of Minnesota because Minnesota's US senators had helped move forward. Um, action. That was the best climate action that had ever taken place anywhere in the world. And in Minnesota, we came up with a very diligent set of work starting in 2023 and continuing in 2024 at the legislature to make it a case that now Minnesota has staff in place whose job is to maximize the amount of Inflation reduction Act money and other monies are coming into the state to help the least among us in this state, the people who most need the money to help them invest in clean energy and climate action for their families and their communities. I'm very proud of that. And that's thousands of people in Minnesota who have been working hard to make that happen. Some of them are on this call, I think. Thank you very much.

Isak Kvam: [00:58:26] Thanks, J. . And with that, I will close up our webinar. I do want to plug once more really quickly that we will be having a daily blog update from J. , like we talked about earlier, that will be on our website so that you can follow along there. J.  sends updates in the middle of the night. Our time. She sends through photos and includes information about what happened each and every day. So we'll be getting that up on the website soon, and it'll start on the very first day of Cop. Um, thank you so much, everyone, for being with us, and I hope you have a great afternoon and weekend. Stay tuned for part two of our series on Tuesday, December 3rd. Have a great rest of your day.

J. Drake Hamilton: [00:59:05] Thank you everyone.

Jo Olson: [00:59:08] Thank you for tuning in to this episode on Decarbonize the Clean Energy Podcast from Fresh Energy. You can stay up to date on Fresh Energy's work at Fresh Energy. Org or follow us on social media. And again, if you want to attend J. 's Post Cop 29 Debrief on December 3rd, you can register on our website. There's a button for events in the upper right corner. Just click there and find the event and register. And if you live in Minnesota, you probably know Thursday is give to the max day. It's November 21st and that is Minnesota's unofficial official. Call it what you will giving holiday. You can support Fresh Energy's work on Give to the Max day by scheduling a donation, and you'll support our work driving bold policy solutions to achieve equitable, carbon neutral economies here in Minnesota and beyond. Head to our website for the latest news, to register for upcoming events and to make a donation. And thank you to Minnesota based band Palm Psalm for the use of their song D.G.a.F. Off of their album“Otuhaka” for our theme music. Thank you for tuning in.