Pablo Retamal

Environmental Audit for a greener FCO

A  heavy air hung over the selection panel. The five panel members witnessed a morning-full of presentations from firms ready to environmentally assess our credentials. All the presentations demonstrated great enthusiasm to work with us. However, separating the audit teams was a difficult task considering the professionalism that had just been demonstrated. “Industry experience”, “subject relevance” or “delivering to our needs and standards” were just some of the variables being counterbalanced by each of the panel members.  The scorecards came in and as the points tallied up it became evident that two contenders  were being preferred.

Debate filled the meeting room.  Finally, when decision time arrived this is what the selection panel had to say about the winning pitch;

“A local company with a fantastic proven record of efficiency and delivery.”
“They have carried out interesting projects and obviously see our account as unique.”
“Their price-value ratio is undeniably the most responsible choice we can make not just for us but for the tax-payer.”
“Their script was creative, innovative and suited all our needs, it would be irresponsible not to choose them.”

So, there we have it. I am proud to announce that Poch Ambiental will be carrying out our environmental audit throughout November. We are thrilled to be working alongside them and look forward to forging  a new relationship.  Their proposal includes providing us with a detailed etat d’affaires of all our premises and a suggestion based analysis for an integrated carbon management system. They will be supplied with information from our FCO carbon calculator. We are proudly handing over this data to Poch Ambiental and providing an established baseline. In Chile, few organisations are capable of the latter and even fewer can boast Carbon Trust guidance!

Once the audit has been completed we look forward to putting into action the suggestions made by Poch Ambiental. This audit will allow us to have our Green Action Plan divided into a series of projects that will take into account  CO2 emissions.  From now on  we will enable any budget holder decisions on greening this Post to be based upon return on investment. So as we were telling our stakeholders last year, “going green really does make economic sense.”

Posted at 12:51 13 November 2009 by Pablo Retamal  |  Comments[0]

Climate Change Haute Societé: Climate talk leads to Climate drinks

As Santiago’s orange dusk settled over the British Ambassador’s residence, the guests trickled in. Some drove, others walked and the very brave even rode their bicycles.  Irrelevant?  Yes, in a normal world it might be. However, climate change and the effects of soaring CO2 emissions due to anthropogenic activity have made our world a “not-so-normal” place as of late. Business as usual threatens a rise in temperatures of more than 2 degrees Celsius as soon as 2015 and our children will think that a snow capped Kilimanjaro is yet another photoshop effect. Our post in Santiago has been working hard in the run up to COP 15 to ensure the latter predictions don’t become a reality.  Our efforts would be worthless without those with whom we work side by side. In Chilean society we have found that government partners, private sector entrepreneurs, academics and NGO’s have all been willing to partake in our projects to fight climate change. The 60 guests that graced the residence’s terrace that evening were among those who have decided to join the same struggle.

It was dark, most were holding their drinks when our ambassador, Howard Drake marked a pause by giving everyone a warm welcome. Ambassador Drake’s words anticipated Felipe Morandé’s brief speech about the Corporate Leader’s Group Chile initiative that was given birth by the Prince of Wales visit last March. It was fascinating to look around and realise that the one common denominator bringing everyone together was climate change considering the variety of guests. The residence had been transformed into a platform for sharing different points of view to approach the global warming phenomenon. This truly was a meeting for Chile’s climate change haute societé.

A variety of sector representatives mingled with counterparts and met new contacts. I must admit I saw my British Embassy colleagues doing their bit for climate by bringing together the most unlikely of people. At one point I joined a conversation between an insurance company representative, a carbon trader and a climatologist! I was impressed about how much they all had in common and how much each one had to contribute to the subject.

As a humble Climate Change Officer, it was an enriching experience. People that understand climate change are people that understand the environment they live in. That is why I left the residence that evening feeling we had been able to bring together those who care to make a difference. I am sure there are many more out there and that we will hear about their initiatives. Since this is a blog, and if you were not at our climate change drinks I encourage any climate change socialité who reads this to post her or his comments! Hopefully we’ll be able to discuss this at our next event.

See Santiago's climate change pages for more information about our activities.

Posted at 10:05 05 November 2009 by Pablo Retamal  |  Comments[0]

The Embassy in Santiago going green

In May, we were asked by London to calculate our carbon footprint, put together a Green team and bring to fruition a Green Action Plan.

The latter has all been achieved. The Green Team brings together an interested number of staff that willingly contribute green ideas. Our first meeting allowed us to identify quick and easy environmental gains for the embassy. This was a debated and fruitful brainstorm that generated many ideas. More then 50 ideas were jotted down and later developed into a Green Action Plan that was handed in to our DHM, Russell.

This participatory body is a fantastic contribution to the already existing green officer role. An added advantage of having a Green Team is that we are now able to sound out green initiatives before they are presented to embassy staff.

The next Green Team Meeting will take place once we hear back from London about our Green Action Plan proposal. The green action plan proposal includes among others, a Greening the Residence Project, alternative embassy transport scheme and a trash recycle project.

Tips for going green

www.bbc.co.uk/bloom/
Want to tackle climate change, but not sure how? Bloom gives you simple green tips, like air drying your laundry, to unthinkable suggestions like greening your funeral.

www.carbonrally.com
This site posts challenges to motivate you to reduce your carbon footprint, like cutting your shower time by two minutes. You can compete on your own or as part of a team.

www.carbonfootprint.com
Tips on reducing your carbon footprint and how to calculate it.

www.wholetravel.com
Want to travel green? This site allows you to research for sustainable transportation, hotels and vacation ideas.

Posted at 16:59 27 October 2009 by Pablo Retamal  |  Comments[0]

Latin American officers challenge climate change in Santiago

The South American Climate Change Network has been operational since June 2009 and is led by Peter Bainbridge in Brasilia. In the past year we have been successful in implementing a climate change programme that aims at impacting December’s UNFCCC meeting in Denmark (COP 15). More than 180 countries will meet in Copenhagen to thrash out a new international deal  designed to tackle the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time.

16 regional climate change attachés joined the third regional conference of its kind. Representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela (virtually) were present in Santiago. The event kicked-off with a three day meeting about the Regional Economic Climate Change Studies at the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Our attachés had a unique opportunity to tap into the latest thinking and know the state of affairs for each of their respective countries.

After a valuable three days at ECLAC the group reassembled at the British Embassy. The objective was to evaluate progress to date on the implementation of the Regional South America Climate Change Strategy, in the run-up to Copenhagen, drawing on experiences from the region and beyond. 

Peter Bainbridge ensured that the Network remained updated on London’s strategic thinking on climate change. We were also able to evaluate success from our Strategic Programme Fund projects and consider longer-term projects beyond Copenhagen to help the region move towards a low-carbon economy. Here in Santiago, we have ensured the latter by co-ordinating a series of visits from top UK sector specialists. We have been able to share UK developments with government, private sector and academic stakeholders that will be taking tomorrow’s decisions as to Chile’s energy and climate future.

Some examples of the people who have visited Chile are:

-David Vincent (Carbon Trust, Project Director)
-David Ockwell (Sussex  University, Technology transfer expert)
-Tony Marmont (Beacon Energy)
-Richard Burrett ( Corporate Leader’s Group, Senior Adviser)
-James Painter (BBC, Senior Editor on Climate Change)

Posted at 12:35 22 October 2009 by Pablo Retamal  |  Comments[0]

Blog Action Day: Climate Change - Meet our Climate Change Bloggers in Chile

In Santiago we are three proactive bloggers dedicated to sharing our latest climate change activities. We have been live for about a month but managed to cover various of our road to COP 15 activity.

Our specialist bloggers are:
 
Maria Jose Riquelme: Political & Projects Officer, Sociologist and been with the FCO for over 6 years. She has specialised in climate change and sustainable development and leads the way in Chile.
 
Monica Eggers: UKTI Commercial Officer, Monica knows all the in's and out's on renewable energy. Her longterm experience on a variety of issues provides our climate change blog with expert stories on the latest technologies and worthwhile initiatives.   
 
Pablo Retamal: Climate Change Officer, Development Studies, and a huge fan of the work my colleagues carry out at Santiago Post. As a matter of fact, I am such a huge fan I tend to blog to make sure our team efforts do not pass unpercieved. Chile offers a unique situation and our accomplishments have not been minor.
 
Since our Blog is dedicated to climate change I encourage all of you to read what we have already blogged and hope you enjoy our post's contributions. See more Foreign Office Climate Conversations.

Posted at 12:11 15 October 2009 by Pablo Retamal  |  Comments[0]

Chip and Beto: Santiago’s real Green Team

Although World Environment Day might already be something to add for next year’s to-do list, in Santiago we are still enjoying its effect. I say this because we adopted Chip and Beto from the CONAF tree nursery (Chile’s forestry agency). Embassy staff participated in a gruelling, edge-of-your-seat, voting process that declared victorious the names of our new trees. Both seedlings (1.5 m) are an endangered species of Chilean oak.

“Big deal”, you might be thinking. Well, yes it is. Chip and Beto now sit with Claudia and Nicolas whose name suggestions provided the names Chip and Beto.“I am disappointed that not both my names  were chosen because then they would have been called Chip and Dale”, Claudia told me the day after the elections. I noticed she had  run a vigorous campaign as most of the people on her floor had in fact voted for “Chip and Dale”. But democracy bore its fruit. Nicolas, who works in the Defence Section, proudly takes care of “Beto” who sits next to him. Beto is the Spanish translation of Burt from Sesame Street and its none the less obvious with the picture Nicolas taped to the side of Beto’s flowerpot.

Chip and Beto’s specially designed cream coloured-wheeled flowerpots allow them to be moved around and participate in meetings and embassy reunions. The couple will stay with us for a year, by which time they will have helped purify about 5 kilograms of Co2. Small trees capture substantially less carbon. However, remember they are oak trees and will grow up to 16 meters and one day absorbing 13 kilos of carbon each! But that’s beside the point, our idea was to establish a bond between staff, nature and a link to climate change. Next year we will plant Beto and Chip at the Ambassador’s residence and adopt two new friends.

If you  were hoping to know more about carbon offsetting, I am sure there are plenty of websites that promote it. However, one big problem with carbon offset projects is quality control. Have you ever asked yourself what happens to the trees once they are planted? Actually, a fair number are cut down or die naturally without you knowing or the company ever replacing it. Taking the latter into account, is it really that crazy to suggest that we plant trees in our garden, or that of the Ambassador?

At least this way we are making sure that the trees build strong roots here at the embassy, help us out with some team bonding and then make sure to grow tall. Considering that the average UK carbon footprint is of 11 tonnes per year, we will not even come close to seriously mitigating any Co2 emissions. Nevertheless, as an awareness building experience it will have given everyone the chance to participate and develop interest in their daily environment.

Posted at 11:57 22 September 2009 by Pablo Retamal  |  Comments[0]

BBC Workshops: Changing the Press Climate

This is a land mark year for climate change. In less then 100 days the world will come together at the United Nations conference to try to reach  a new international agreement to tackle climate change. The Road to Copenhagen is the UK Government’s case for an agreement at Copenhagen that focuses on urgent action to limit global temperature increases to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. Beyond this line, the risks of dangerous climate change become much greater. For this reason, in May, June and July the BBC joined our efforts on climate change.

The BBC helped organise a series of seminars with local media, government and civil society. Media and communications are keys to any awareness raising activity. Being able to line up the BBC with the FCO, was like having the dream-team show up at your local park; everyone wants to be part of your team!

In Chile, printed press revolves around nine serious newspapers. Global warming and climate change feature mainly in science and environmental pages. Regrettably, these pages lack visibility. Let’s say you picked up an article on climate change; in Chile it would either be a supplement or somewhere close to the sports pages. Considering that newspapers are a mirror of society’s worries and interests, climate change’s reflection still shines faintly.

Bringing the BBC to Chile was a great opportunity. The name alone generates considerable interest among national media and press officers. We kicked-off activities by organising a seminar for 60 people at the United Nations’ regional headquarters in Santiago. Opening speeches from our Ambassador, UN Economic Commission’s Environment Division Director, Chile’s Lead Negotiator in Copenhagen and the BBC’s Climate Change and Communications Expert, set the tone for an afternoon of fruitful debate. After hearing a series of opinions I was surprised at how passionately journalists felt their hands were tied. Their editors simply would not accept “too many” articles about climate change.

Constance Nalegach, from the Chilean Environmental Commission and Miguel Molina, from the BBC, who led the Seminars.

In June, we invited 10 government press officers to a focused workshop on communications and climate change. Through a BBC interlocutor, participants worked on  exercises and analysis on how to effectively use climate change messaging in  the press. Participants expressed the need for this kind of training to occur more often.

A third workshop, exclusive to journalists, was a great opportunity to platform CONAMA (Chile’s Environmental Authority) and introduce the carbon footprint principle. We brought Fernando Santibañez, from the Universidad de Chile, who gave a lecture on how important the carbon footprint is for Chile’s export products and agricultural sector. Journalists were able to receive first hand information, numbers and statistics of local climate change figures.

Taking a moment to consider the entire project made me realise that Chilean journalists are not being given the necessary space or airtime climate change deserves. I would not be the first in saying that we face the biggest immediate long-term environmental challenge humanityhas ever witnessed. How then can anyone decide to ignore facts and figures to pursue other news agendas?  Climate change is a major news story for us all. A failure to reach  a policy outcome on climate change has not only a negative environmental impact but also social and economic consequences for us all.

When one speaks to editors and reporters they might be totally bought in, but it is often the publishers or the owners who set the scope and tone of the coverage. Let’s face it, as long as it’s not Armageddon or another similar sensationalist story, climate change still does not sell in the media as it should.   Which of course sets a challenge for all of us working on climate change issues in posts.

Posted at 08:31 28 August 2009 by Pablo Retamal  |  Comments[0]

Greening the Embassy

It’s amazing how few synonyms one can find for “eco” and “green”. It’s probably the reason why we hear these words so much these days.

In early June, our Ambassador Howard Drake, received a couple of emails announcing that “Greening the FCO” had rolled out to Santiago. Even though the news was probably the best thing I had heard since the Prince of Wales’s Visit to Chile was going to be themed around climate change, I knew it was going to imply prioritising my role as Green Officer.

Our tasks were simple: use the carbon footprint calculator (provided by the FCO) to complete a post-based carbon footprint, commission a green audit, form a Green Team and develop an action plan. This post is used to challenges, so after a meeting with the Ambassador, our targets and priorities were clear.

Great! We got down to business straight away. With help from our intern, Colin, we managed to start the enormous task of calculating “the footprint”. Colin spent numerous hours in accounts searching, calculating and chasing any and every kind of bill you might have thought irrelevant. We summed up gas bills, sent out questionnaires to staff members about how they get to work every day and asked the maintenance staff for details of our daily waste disposal. The entire process was such an eye opening experience. “Did you know that this year we travelled to the moon and back and almost to the moon again,” Colin told me one afternoon. That was the equivalent number of kilometres our post had spent on air travel in one year.

While calculating our carbon footprint, we simultaneously brought a Green Team together. The team was made up of different volunteers from all sections of the embassy. We kicked off this group’s activities by brainstorming to identify “quick and easy wins”. Another impressive result! In an hour we were able to muster over 50 ideas that could be implemented and help reduce emissions. 

At present I am drafting the action plan and we will soon start a tendering process for an official green audit. The process has provided a baseline.  Our creativity and efforts to implement the Green Action Plan will translate into a greener and more efficient embassy. So, tell your neighbours, tell your friends, ”FCO” and “green” increasingly go together.

Posted at 13:41 24 August 2009 by Pablo Retamal  |  Comments[1]

Why yet another blog on climate change?

Guest Blog: Ambassador, Howard Drake (pictured right)

Well, until Copenhagen in December, DSO7 is the single most important DSO in the life of this embassy. And it's led to some great examples of working across teams and breaking down still further the dreaded silos that, as we all know, can limit an Embassy's effectiveness - but definitely not this one.

OK, but why worry about Chile? It's not a big emitter, after all. Indeed it's not a big country in any sense. But it is:

• a country which is smart enough to understand that, while it might only be responsible for 0.2% of global emissions, it is going to suffer from far more than 0.2% of the consequences of global warming. Melting Andean glaciers, reduced river flow, and water supply issues. The wonderful wine and fruit the world enjoys will be affected by changes in growing conditions. And a successful economy with a rapacious appetite for more energy - which in the short term can only come from yet more coal – will make Santiago's air quality even worse than it is already.

• a country that the UK really can do business with. You don't get here the tired mantra that the problem is all the developed world's fault and responsibility to sort out. What you do get is a country which - unlike the vast majority of its counterparts - has a substantive climate change action plan. A country which really wants to get the best advice and help. A hugely successful private sector which - albeit cautiously - sees climate change as a major competitiveness issue.

So we've got something to work on. And some really committed people. This blog is about bringing the two together - we hope you enjoy it!"

Howard Drake OBE
Ambassador in Santiago, Chile

Posted at 08:40 24 August 2009 by Pablo Retamal  |  Comments[1]