COP summit ‘no longer fit for purpose’ say leading climate experts

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TRANSCRIPT
The United Nations has received a letter calling for urgent reforms to the COP climate summit, arguing it is ‘no longer fit for purpose’ in its current state.
An open letter signed by prominent figures like the former U-N Secretary General, a former UN climate chief and a series of other leaders and experts in the field, says things cannot go on as they are.
The letter offers seven suggestions for reform, the first of which calls for an improvement of the host selection process.
Yeb Sano is the Executive Director at Greenpeace Southeast Asia and says the conference should not be funded or fuelled by corporate interest.
“It is a big problem when the fossil fuel industry is involved in climate negotiations and in hosting the spaces where we have to deal with pushing ambition in this process. And therefore, all COPs, I must say, should be rid of vested interests. And therefore, one of the ways that can be done, without undermining the larger work that we’re trying to do here and all parties are trying to do here, is to prevent corporate capture of these spaces and make sure that COPs are public funded instead of being funded by big corporate money”
This year’s COP29 in Azerbaijan marks the third year in a row the summit has been held in a so-called petro-state, with this year’s organising committee including current and former oil and gas executives.
Azerbaijan is not only facing scrutiny for its reliance on fossil fuels and commitments to increase gas and oil production, but also its human rights abuses and repressive government.
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg is boycotting the summit.
Speaking from neighbouring Armenia, she says Azerbaijan’s recent attacks on dissidents within the country and the Armenian people cannot be overlooked.
“Azerbaijan is an extremely repressive state, a petrostate that is planning to expand fossil fuel production and is responsible for ethnic cleansing. It is absolutely nauseating, to say the least, the hypocrisy, the extreme hypocrisy that this climate conference COP29 is being held in that country right now. The continuous extreme hardships that many Armenians are facing because of the Azerbaijani military aggression, the torture, forcefully displacement, prisoners of war, hostages, and the ethnic cleansing, and the extreme physical and psychological violence that people have experienced can in absolutely no way be justified.”
The letter argues that the time has well and truly come for the COP Summit to shift from being a platform of negotiation into a space for rapid implementation.
With this year’s summit surrounded by uncertainty, not only regarding the host but also the re-election of Donald Trump as United States President, concerns have risen about the ability to make progress.
Director of the International Climate Politics Hub Catherine Abreu says the letter should not be interpreted as a criticism but rather as necessary suggestions for improvement.
“It (the letter) has landed in an atmosphere of cynicism around the ability of this space to deliver the outcomes that it needs to deliver. And I think perhaps these constructive ideas for how we might turn this space into an implementation vehicle have been misinterpreted in that context as a criticism of the space. And ultimately, I think we all agree that it is absolutely essential for countries to cooperate to tackle the climate crisis. No one country can do this alone. And this is the only space that brings every country in the world together to do anything. And in this case, it’s to address the greatest crisis of our generation”
The letter also makes suggestions to enhance equitable representation by improving the management of corporate interests at COP.
It argues that the fact there are more lobbyists than official representatives from scientific institutions, Indigenous communities and vulnerable nations reflects a systemic imbalance that must be resolved.
Catherine Abreu says the large presence of lobbyists is not a signal of their desire to change.
“We know that 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists are here at COP29. That is larger than most country delegations, except for three country delegations, including the host country delegations. Those interests are not here to drive ambition. In fact, they’re here to take us backward. The UNFCCC needs a conflict of interest policy that puts a firewall between all things climate change, all things UNFCCC and all things fossil fuels. And that conflict of interest policy needs to apply to the presidencies as much as it does to the delegates.”
With such a large presence from fossil fuel lobbyists, the letter also urges amplifying the voice of authoritative science.
Following the election of Donald Trump in the US, concerns are mounting about misinformation and climate denialism further stalling progress.
Former US Vice President Al Gore says the world must face up to the facts about climate change.
“The fact that the scientists who predicted all of this decades ago were have been proven dead right should cause the rest of us to pay more attention to what they’re telling us now. Do we listen to the polluters who don’t want to do anything meaningful that might reduce fossil fuels? Or would do we listen to the scientists. Who have been telling us what we need to do?”