AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Director Bob Baugh, a member of a global union delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), sends us another in a series of reports on the new round of United Nations climate change negotiations taking place now in Durban, South Africa.

Dorje Khati, a Sherpa and trade union member, has carried the ITUC climate message to the top of the world. After a 15-hour ascent to the top of Mount Everest on May 22, he planted the ITUC flag on the summit of the world’s highest mountain to represent the hopes and dreams of millions of workers for a global climate agreement.

Dorje is here in Durban with the flag and using it to inspire ITUC delegates and governments alike.

Mountaineering shares a lot in common with climate change talks: Reaching your goal can be a hard climb. The first week was filled with stories of hardened positions and dire predictions of failure. But a Saturday Day of Action march for climate justice helped inspire our global delegation.

Thousands of people, led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), filled the main street in Durban for a march to the Conference of Parties (COP) site. The colorful and boisterous crowd chanted, sang and danced through the streets. Outside, the COP marchers stood peacefully and cheers filled the air as speakers from allied groups called for climate change action.

Later that afternoon, the U.S. union delegation, accompanied by ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow, met with U.S. Special Envoy Todd Stern and his deputy Jonathon Pershing. We had a frank discussion about the need for greater ambition by all nations to reduce carbon emissions and the need for a Financial Transaction Tax to provide the investment revenues needed to address climate change. Burrow thanked our negotiators for the U.S. leadership on Just Transition, the framework for a fair and sustainable shift to a low carbon economy. We discussed how it can be implemented by training and education measures and the role the International Labor Organization (ILO) can play on measuring progress.

This was also an opportunity to clarify other issues. We were pleased to learn about the positive work by the State Department and Department of Labor on social protection measures and Just Transition as they prepare for next year’s RIO + 20 international conference on sustainability.

Today, with senior officials arriving in Durban, the pressure to make real decisions is at hand, and some positive rumors are circulating. It appears the effort reduce emissions from deforestation (REDD) has reached a positive decision and the firms’
access to the Green Climate Fund talks are moving. There is much to be done on transparency, mitigation and the other decisions from Cancun. These are some of the peaks left to summit. The AFL-CIO and ITUC are climbing them with Dorje Khati. We have a flag and a message for COP 17.