My job is to monitor developments in policy areas, which are either priority in British foreign policy or take the limelight in domestic politics, and have direct relevance to British interests. The best thing about it is the variety this job offers and the constant need to learn. I cover a wide range of issues from energy policy to employment policy. Some are constant elements of my portfolio, some are coming and going depending on the situation such as bird flu. (I wish I would never have to report bird flu cases like in 2005-2006, because it means no outbreaks.)

 

Recently I have been doing climate change and energy policy work literally full time. This includes following the EU policy developments, communicating UK government views to the Hungarian officials and vice versa, plus identifying areas of possible co-operation and suggesting ways and means of implementation. To give you an example, I am organising a study visit to the UK for a large group from the Central and Eastern European Countries in May to learn what the UK is doing in Carbon Capture and Storage. You probably ask yourselves, what the hell is that, but please do not get put off at this point just because it does not sound very exciting. I did not know anything about it 6 months ago, and still don't claim to know enough about it, but what I am sure of is that it is an exciting and very important subject. I do not want to take too much time with it now. In a nutshell this is a collective term for technologies, which aim to catch CO2 emissions during industrial production and store it under the seabed or underground in geological formations. You are right to ask why not stop emitting CO2 instead. It is because renewable and alternative sources of energy will take timeto take over from fossil fuels, and even until this happens we ought to do something to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted into the air. We cannot stop using coal and oil in the next 100 years, do we? Furthermore, according to expert estimates, climate change related industry will be a major source of economic growth and jobs in the future. And those who switch to this new track will benefit from it while latecomers not only will miss the opportunity, but even pay higher prices for their inaction.

What I really wanted to say about the regional project is that I enjoy co-ordinating regional work like this as it gives me an opportunity to work with my counterparts at other British Embassies. Some I have known for quite some time and am good friends with. We used to meet at regional meetings in the past. I used to love going to regional meetings for many reasons: you get the latest news directly from the top officials in charge, you can learn from each other, discuss regional co-operation, getting to know the others who work on the same area in other countries face to face. Plus they are often at fun locations.(Don not tell my colleagues but the last project meeting I attended in 2006 was held in Malta! But before you get too envious, I must tell you we did not have time for beaching!) However, since my son was born I have drastically cut down on travelling as I hate being away. Those with children will probably agree with me that children tend to get sick when you travel. As if they sensed this is the worst time for Mom. I know I am not alone with this experience.

Last week was a particularly interesting week at work. I attended a lot of events related to climate change. On Monday, the Hungarian branch of the Business Council for Sustainable Development held a business breakfast on the occasion of the Parliament’s approval of the National Climate Strategy. A kind contact I met there sent me a great book: From Cradle to Cradle (HVG könyvek series). I speed read it over the weekend and highly recommend it to everybody who has a slight affinity to responsible business, the environment and what we leave behind for the future generations. If it ever occurred to you that something is wrong with consumer societies, and how much harm and waste we produce, but you want something practical not just the spiritual arguments, this is the book for you. Although the topic is a very practical on industrial production, it uses economic arguments that don't simply appeal to the reader’s moral values. I particularly liked this fine balance between being practical oriented when dealing with moral issues. And one more interesting fact: THE BOOK IS NOT MADE OF PAPER!

I also attended the outreach event organised by the Central European University on the side of the meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It is a group of leading scientists and experts on various aspects of climate change who synthesise the findings in various aspects of climate change in dedicated working groups. They held their meeting in Budapest at the Academy of Sciences. At its side event at the CEU the audience received a summary of their main findings which were published in bulky reports. Attending has saved me weeks of reading and you could put questions to the very experts covering the subject in those reports.

Many of you probably know that IPCC has recently been awarded a Nobel Prize for their work. It is a great initiative embracing researchers and experts from all over the world. You are bombarded with news of conflict, problems etc. day in day out. It is nice to hear something positive is happening, like IPCC where a large network of interdisciplinary and international experts can work together for the good of the entire world. I know it sounds a bit sappy, but they are indeed were a breeze of fresh air.

I have been impressed by some of the presenters. Scientist often fail to explain their views to the general pubic in comprehensible terms and use too much jargon. Every time I had to take on a new policy area, I was frustrated in trying to make sense of a vast amount of text and information without being clear about the terminology. On the other hand, I enjoy this “research and learning” phase of my work. If you have been in a similar situation and are interested in climate change, you may want to read George Soros' article on Science and Communication. 

He deals with the causes of why scientific facts are not communicated effectively or are misunderstood. Reading his article reminded me how little the average people know about technical and natural sciences in general. I guess I am not alone who would fail to recall much of elementary physics. I realised this when my son asked about the galaxy. I also failed in explaining properly why the little paper car we built from a children science box would start to move if the balloon attached to it is opened and air bursts out of it. So we had to look it up in “clever books” but then I still had to put it into plain language.

 

If I may single out one person for his presentation, I would mention the speaker from the Paris based International Energy Agency. He was a nuclear engineer by education and said they were of a dying breed, not too many young ones are trained and available these days. We can argue for and against nuclear energy, but what stuck me was that these days very few young people study hard sciences. It is an oversimplification though, but most youngsters want to be in marketing and HR and then end up being frustrated as they are not needed by the labour market. I have decided that next time my son asks what he should do when he grows up I will recommend that he study engineering or geology. I would if I could start my career again.

 

The presentation I mentioned was so witty, lively and compelling. It is worth checking on the CEU website where you can find all the presentations: http://web.ceu.hu/envsci/

His slides concluded with a photo of his grand daughter. He was also arguing that we in the Western developed world are obsessed with consuming stuff we do not need. I think it is a lyrics by U2 which says: “What you do not have, you do not need it now.” This is what came to my mind when he showed two slides: one with overweight people, walking alone, with unhappy faces taken at Miami airport and another one with thin, poor people taken in some African developing country, with a big smile and dancing together. Another speaker put the poetic question: “Do we need all that horsepower in our cars? Especially when it is one person only puffing his or her way?” 

 

The CEU event was focusing on what Hungary is doing to mitigate climate change. I understand that drought is expected to be the most serious problem. As a laymen I have learnt a lot of interesting facts. For example that in hot weather the plants start to release CO2 instead of absorbing it so the warming will be accelerated. Pretty frightening! I hope we will never get to the stage when we have to fight for water resources as in the ancient times. Those who have not yet used water sparingly due to financial reasons, please think about it that when we flush our toilets with drinking water, that millions are not this privileged and cannot even access proper quality of drinking water. And here I stop frightening you with a dark future.

Enough to say that last week was a “Whatever you ever wanted to know about climate change, but never dared to ask” week for me.

 

And on a more positive note, the Hungarian experts from forestry to water were all world class, so it seems we are in good hands. These are tough decisions whether you are business, government or just a man in the street. For example how to persuade corporate decision-makers to focus on the long term when they are pressed by the shareholders to maximise profit in the short run?  And your point of view can be the opposite if you are an outsider or if your family’s livelihood depends on it. Or to persuade the developing countries to curb their CO2 emissions – these days they emit about 55% while developed countries about 35% and transition economies about 10% – when nobody asked the now developed world 20–50 years ago to curb their growth rate by spending an extra on more environmentally friendly production. I do not envy those negotiating in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Imagine yourselves arguing with your neighbours about how to share the costs of cleaning up your neighbourhood. Everybody would try to minimise their own costs, wouldn't they? Maybe yes, maybe no, and what would be the outcome for the entire community? But that would take us too far into game theory. It is reassuring, though, that there are people who work for us all.

 

There was another useful piece of information I picked up at the event: there is a nice teaching kit for those who want to explain environmental issues for children. It is available on the website of the Regional Environmental Centre (REC) at www.rec.org. It is called “Green Pack”.

 

In my job I meet a lot of people, government officials, NGO activists, researchers, etc. and am always impressed by how many of them are really dedicated and have the expert knowledge. I have learnt everything I needed for my job from these people. They took the time and trouble to introduce me to completely alien subjects or to answer my silly questions.

 

I hope this piece has illustrated the many facets of my work and by now you must be clear that I enjoy the climate work most of all. But before you think it is always this exciting, I must tell you that last week was an exceptional one. It is not a complaint, though!