iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Inishbofin is a starkly beautiful, windswept, and rainswept island with virtually no trees. I went there looking for seeds to plant, and I leave confident that what took root will inform the vital conversations ahead. #ClimateAction #JustTransition #Inishbofin

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Third, we must value the cultural and spiritual dimension. Policy alone is insufficient. We need poets, artists, and musicians, alongside people of faith and – like myself – of no faith, to voice our deep connections to nature and to one another.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Second, we need radical collaboration. Deep, uncomfortable alliances will be central – with natural partners and opponents alike. While countering delay from fossil fuel interests, we must avoid a Manichean worldview and engage those working in or dependent on those sectors.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It bridged worlds: policy makers, scientists, think tanks, and activists sat alongside artists, faith groups, and island residents. Three reflections stand out: First, we need narratives that resonate – speaking to people’s core values, their communities, and their legacies.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I am not in New York for Climate Week this year but I have just returned from a very different climate gathering. Last week, around sixty of us met on the island of Inishbofin off the Atlantic coast of Ireland, at the invitation of @EamonRyan for an extraordinarily rich exchange.

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Reposted by Paul Watkinson

QuotaClimat ⏱ @quotaclimat.org · 29/10/2025

Nous sommes extrêmement reconnaissants aux modérateurs Paul Watkinson (@pwatkinson.bsky.social) et Ramona Bloj, ainsi qu’à Luis Vassy et Ariane Joab-Cornu de Sciences Po pour l’organisation de cette séquence inédite.

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Reposted by Paul Watkinson

Glen Peters @glenpeters.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Preliminary data suggests that the global average increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration in 2024 will be a record. Not just a little record, but 25% higher than the previous record. (This is the global average, as opposed to Moana Loa) gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/... 1/

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

I'm conscious that this is all easier said than done, and that this remains very much thinking in progress, but would be happy to engage on the ideas.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Finally, we will need better ways to access all the information - for once this might be a task for artificial intelligence might be able to provide an answer (not just hype).

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Such an approach could give new relevance to the information produced by multiple processes that currently get little consideration beyond the development of a few lines in conclusions or decisions that few read. It could also help to put some order and ensure better follow-up to the action agenda.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

- Use also as a platform to draw lessons and overview progress on the action agenda.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

- Feed outputs from the many activities that are underway, such as work programmes, constituted bodies, transparency framework, into a presidency-led implementation forum.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

- Simplify work under the COPs and SBs, not seek negotiated outcomes on all items at every session.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

I have been saying for a long time that we need to reduce the space given to negotiation and find ways to make the UNFCCC process more relevant to supporting implementation and overcoming barriers to action. I have put some ideas in this article: www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-n...

linkedin.com

From negotiation to an implementation forum during the COP

It’s easy to criticise climate COPs: too much talk, not enough action, too many participants, lobbyists and greenwashing, … There is truth behind such criticism, although many often fail to recognise ...

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Knowledge is the most powerful tool humanity has ever developed, it gives us the ability to understand what is happening around us and to take decisions on our future. Reactionary forces have always tried stop knowledge being developed and shared. Strength to you and all the others under attack.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

None of this will be easy, but in the face of deliberate and active efforts to stop and slow down the climate transition, we need to learn from what works, and avoid what does not, in national and international contexts.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Third, we need to put some order into the mutlitude of initiatives launched by successive COP presidencies - some of them can make a huge difference, but others are little more than pure communication.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Second, the multilateral climate process needs to deliver concrete support to action. Of course, we will still need to negotiate to agree ways forward on some points, but we must stop negotiating everything - that just plays into the hands of those who want to slow things down.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

First, we need to develop climate policies that respond to peoples' hopes and expectations - cutting emissions, managing the transtion do not give them hope - we can build policies that offer a vision of their personal growth and the future for their children.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

It’s tempting to despair, but there are some reasons to remain positive, and above all to strengthen the fight for climate action. But if we are going to succeed, we need to avoid past mistakes and get a clearer idea of what works, and what doesn’t.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Meanwhile, major oil companies are abandoning any plans to diversify their investments and returning to what they know best, producing more oil and gas. Banks and other financial institutions are backing out of agreements to transform their investments.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Other countries profess their continued support for climate action, but in the face of mounting opposition many are increasingly tempted to slow down implementation or water down their domestic climate policies, and budget constraints are leading them to cut their development assistance in turn.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Instead his administration is encouraging fossil fuel production, openly attacking climate science (with consequences for all of us), and ending aid to developing countries.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

And yet, rather than responding to the growing climate crisis, Donald Trump is taking the world’s biggest economy and the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases out of the Paris Agreement.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

These are troubling times for anyone concerned about the climate – and that ought to be just about everyone on the planet. Global temperatures have hit record highs, extreme events are multiplying.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Parabéns, good luck to André Corrêa do Lago ! A great choice to lead COP30, a huge challenge ahead.

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Reposted by Paul Watkinson

Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 15/01/2025

I have a new paper in Dialogues on Climate Change exploring climate outcomes under current policies. I find that we are likely headed toward 2.7C by 2100 (with uncertainties from 1.9C to 3.7C), and that high end emissions scenarios have become much less likely. journals.sagepub.com...

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Pushing ahead, strengthening and accelerating climate action is the best response for the rest of the world to the US decision.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Finally, the order provides for the US withdrawal to be effective immediately. That is a unilateral reading of the provision that requires a year to take effect. But that also means that the US cannot claim the right to slow down decision-making anymore.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

It is not just the headline figures that count, but the ability to transform targets into detailed policy frameworks and investment plans.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Overall ambition is unlikely to be as high as is needed, but the incoming Brazilian COP30 presidency, along with the UN Secretary General, can use their responsibilities to push hard for stronger implementation and collaboration.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

The first test will be the new nationally determined contributions that parties are due to submit in the coming weeks.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

The costs of key clean energy technologies have fallen dramatically and continue to fall, whilst climate impacts will unfortunately continue to grow. Climate action remains the right policy for the rest of the world.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Removing efficiency requirements may be an attractive populist measure for consumers, but their energy bills will end up higher over time.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Cheap fossil fuels may give a boost to US industry, but in the longer-term that will not help them position themselves to be competitive in the clean and innovative sectors that are growing – and even within the US, the decisions of industry and State level policies will continue to lower emissions.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

The driving force behind the new administration’s policies is their narrow vision of US national interest and competitiveness – “America First.”

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

So, what happens next should not depend on the US, but on what the other 194 parties to the Paris Agreement decide to do.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

However, its emissions are now less than 14% of global emissions and US climate finance has always been much lower in terms of its GDP than support provided by European countries and others.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

But it would be wise not to overstate the impact of this decision. The US does not decide on its own what the rest of the world does. Yes, it is the world’s biggest economy, the second highest emitter of greenhouse gases and the largest historical emitter, it matters.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

The IPCC has told us that every fraction of a degree counts, that every action counts and that every year counts, so any delay in reducing emissions, any weakening of climate policies will lead to climate impacts that we could have avoided.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

The US will end support to developing countries that it had promised, slowing their ability to undertake a low carbon and resilient development.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Other executive orders have already begun the work of unpicking the policies of the previous administration, and the result will be emissions that are higher than they would have been.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Trump’s executive order to take the US out of the Paris Agreement – again – was no surprise but remains bad news since it would have been better for the US to remain an active participant in the global fight against climate change.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

But above all we need to improve the action agenda that now takes so much space around the COP – it has huge potential so long as it can be better coordinated between presidencies, ensure follow-up, and reduce the number of events that are driven more by communication objectives.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

We can improve the multilateral climate process – negotiations are messy, overloaded, and often fail to deliver.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Finance has to be at the heart of that, but it is also about coordination and cooperation around industrial policy, and a greater focus to the social dimension of change and the fairness of the transition, within and between countries.

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Paul Watkinson @pwatkinson.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

But rather than focus only on the targets, we should perhaps spend more time on how cooperation and collaboration can unlock the barriers to climate action.

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