Climate war game: The clock starts...
10:10 a.m.
The war game begins with a short ABC news segment (dated 2015, although ABC crews are also filming the game in real-time for an upcoming documentary) on global warming and the lack of progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Screens throughout the room are awash in images of droughts, floods, fires and riots, an increasingly common response to rising energy and food prices. The United States is reeling from a category 5 hurricane that hit Miami earlier in the year.
“Our time is running out,” says UN Secretary General John Podesta. He calls for cooperation among negotiators from China, the United States, Europe and India. “You are the four biggest emitters. You are also the four largest economies. … You must show the world the path to addressing climate change.”
Negotiators are now receiving a briefing on the latest climate science as well as a state-of-the-world update from UN officials. Headline: environmental refugees could number between 200 million and 1 billion people by 2050.
Next up: Participants break into their respective teams to develop country positions.
