The dangers of turning high-stakes climate talks into a zoom call

In this Feb 4, 2020 file photo, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched the upcoming UK-hosted COP26 UN Climate Summit in London, England. — AP

The defining agreement to limit global warming might not have have happened without a drab meeting room. It was in December 1997 that officials from the U.S., European Union and Japan spent 36 hours huddled in a side room at the Kyoto International Conference Hall.

When the diplomats finally emerged, they had the basis of the world’s first deal to tackle climate change. "That was a very brutal negotiating session, ” said Alden Meyer, a senior associate at the E3G think tank who has followed the United Nations climate talks for more than 20 years. The document produced in a Kyoto conference room paved the way for the landmark Paris Agreement nearly two decades later.

Negotiations at this year's all-important meeting, known as COP26, are likely to be just as fraught-with the added wrinkle of potentially being held over Microsoft Teams. The event’s organisers are currently grappling with the reality that they may have to hold all or some of the sessions online if the coronavirus pandemic isn't contained ahead of the November event in Glasgow, Scotland.

Marathon negotiations have become a hallmark of the annual climate talks. No summits in recent years have finished on time as countries dig their heels in throughout the night and try to thrash out a compromise on thorny issues such as financial contributions.

In Kyoto, negotiators only finished when a lingerie show started setting up at the venue.