Many protests took place today by indigenous rights groups and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these took place on the day that, as Bert described it, “everything is now taking place in back rooms”; for up to ten hours ministers will be closed off in rooms trying to agree text. The woman with the drum here was singing; her voice was brilliant and could be heard from some way away…meanwhile the rest of the COP await the white smoke appearing…

At the daily TUNGO meeting reps from around the world applauded the strikers at Benson school in Birmingham UK, who are being very unfairly blamed for a poor Ofsted inspection outcome, and this in the week that it was found that Ofsted contributed to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. This is a stark reminder of why we come here to defend workers’ rights.

The meeting then had a presentation from a government minister from Spain, who used to be a union rep lobbying for Just Transition at COPs, like us, and who was later persuaded to take on a government job driving through a Just Transition project across the country that has delivered massive reductions in emmissions and countless new green jobs in the move to a low carbon evergy sector. It was clearly a very difficult process for everyone and one issue that was encountered was energy companies initially not wanting to apply the same working rights to sub-contractors that they did to their permanent employees. Trust grew on both sides as the process continued…and it is not complete yet…Overall this was a pretty inspiring story of how things should be done.

Back to the COP and it was reported that there are gaps in the “Global Stocktake” draft agreements in relation to the historical responsibilities of the Global North (who have done more to cause climate change so ought to do more to mitigate it), the lack of mention once again of workers’ rights and then wording around fossil fuels. It seemed there were several options on the table around fossil fuel reduction; everything from a rapid phase out in accordance with the best available science to….nothing. The ITUC already has agreed consensus to transition away from fossil fuels with employment guarantees (at the risk of sounding like a stuck record: a just transition!). However this matter was debated in our meeting; Global South union delegates have experienced an extremely unjust transition to renewables in parts of Africa, in which powerful energy companies from the West have exploited workers and caused many job losses too. Meanwhile Global North union delegates were arguing there are no jobs at all if we rise above 1.5 as we will not survive. I shared the story of steelworkers in Wales who were losing jobs through the move to an electric arc furnace whilst ironically the government were opening new gas fields and continuing to import the less-green form of steel. The discussion was interesting but curtailed due to the room only being booked for one hour so we agreed to reconvene later in the day.

My next meeting was with Ashok from Ashden, the not-for-profit company that runs the “Let’s Go Zero” campaign in schools; the NEU have worked to promote this in our schools, and with our green reps. We discussed the campaign and its intentions as well as its difficulties and Ashok has agreed that it would be workable to incorporate a “Just Transition Toolkit” produced by the NEU to be included in the range of resources for support that are given to headteachers by the newly appointed climate action advisors. Before parting we briefly discussed school meals (it is food day at the COP!) and I realised I was hungry and decided to indulge myself:

The last time I had a yakisoba bun was in Kawasaki, Japan in 1989, just before I started teaching; I was staying with a really good friend’s family. Through their living room door was a small noodle factory and we ate these noodles with everything, including in the buns for breakfast- who would have thought I’d find this again in Dubai at COP?! Most of the veggie food here appears to be ultra-processed fake meat, which I’m not a fan of.

TUNGO reconvened and the only space we could find was on the roof of our office, with no chairs!! (Our bums were white after!). We needed to narrow down our basic demands for the final agreements so that those who have negotiators that will listen (not the UK!) could share these and lobby for them. There were three points agreed:

• Reference to affected communities must include workers (including specifically women and young workers)
• There must be reference to meaningful social dialogue (with workers, employers and governments) and stakeholder participation with communities
• Just transition plans should be co-created with workers and their trade unions, under social dialogue, to provide and guarantee decent work, social protection, training opportunities and job security for all workers affected by global warming and climate change policies

There are other asks as well (eg keeping to 1.5) but above are the three points specific to the union constituency.

My next stop was an interesting one…the Global Innovation Hub had an event about school leaders inspiring with innovation. As a union which has leader members, I felt I ought to support. I arrived to discover this was a meeting led by the ex-head of a UK school who is now President of the “International Confederation of School Principals”. Four different headteachers gave presentations on climate change work in their regions:

• New Zealand (Aotearoa) talked about a project integrating Maori indigenous knowledge into climate awareness work and educating students to see themselves as guardians of the earth
• Argentina talked about use of AI to model different climate scenarios and predictions to engage students
• South Africa talked about mainstreaming climate change throughout the whole curriculum because “the world is for them”.
• China focussed on children’s depression and anxiety over climate change and were advocating a safe space and mindfulness as a way of addressing mental health

I googled the presenter and his organisation and realised there was a link to ASCL, the school leaders’ union in the UK. So I introduced myself and he seemed very pleased to meet me.

While I was in a gathering of school leaders we were whatsapped a picture of negotiators who had been gathered by the COP presidency into majlis, a new concept for this year’s COP (“majli”: room for a gathering/ discussions):

My final gathering of the day was a side event co-organised by the Quebec union’s Patrick Rondeau entitled “Fast, Fair, Forever: Why the World Needs a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty”. This was a great way to end the day with knowledgeable and inspiring speakers from around the world. Patrick gave the Just Transition perspective (of course he did!!), Augusto talked about damage to the Amazon by fossil fuels, a speaker from “Don’t Gas Africa” described the damage being done to their coastlines, affecting their fisherfolk and more. Jerry from Friends of the Earth, Ireland, implored us not to allow governments to describe gas as a “transition fuel” as it’s not; it’s a fossil fuel. We also heard from a Fridays for Future Indian speaker. And finally an activist from Samoa, Brianna Fruean, who became active at the age of 11 and has been coming to the COP for years trying to save her small island state from being washed away.

Brianna taught us a Pacific chant and then explained why “we’re loud- we have loud voices, loud colours and some even carry sound systems in our bags that are playing; it’s because we’re worried that if we don’t people will forget we’re here”.

She remembered that at the Paris COP there was wallpaper which was decorated with the message “2 degrees”; that was the target then. She and her people knew that they would not survive in their islands at 2 degrees; they would be drowned by sea level rise. So they and other Pacific islanders began the campaign “keep to 1.5 to stay alive”. It is thanks to them that we have this target…let’s hope it’s stuck to. That, of course, depends on a non-proliferation of fossil fuels. And despite the target, countries like the UK continue to approve new oil and gas projects.

The Samoan people are voyagers, Brianna said, and they travel by canoe. She says there are empty seats in the canoe and they hope others will join them in their campaigns. If others join, we will paddle faster. But, she said, we always paddle in fleets, never a single canoe; we need the treaty but we also need the text and the action on the streets- all of it.

If you’re reading this blog and your union or organisation has not yet signed up to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, please ask them to ( I will be, as soon as I get back!). As Brianna said, the COP is not a David and Goliath story; it’s Gulliver’s Travels- one giant, and LOTs of ropes needed!

Get out of the majli and get your ropes ready!!!