COP29 Was An Utter S**t Show
Honestly, we couldn't have done any worse.
The world is falling apart around us, with climate change disasters becoming ever more frequent, damaging, and obvious, and critical ecosystems crumbling before our eyes. It’s now only the clinically brainless or those buried deep in the pockets of big oil that claim we are innocent parties in the fatal degradation of the planet or that said degradation simply isn’t happening. The evidence that we have caused this and that the consequences will be nothing short of a catastrophe the likes of which humanity has never seen before is so overwhelmingly unanimous that it drowns out these money-hungry lies. Not only that, but all the evidence suggests that we only have a few years left to implement wide-reaching reforms to prevent and mitigate the horrors waiting for us just over the horizon. So, you’d think that the world’s largest climate summit, COP29, would be a flurry of international collaboration with significant leaps in the right direction, right? No. It was a ridiculous and petty fiasco. It seems humanity is deadset on running out the clock on its own self-made doomsday.
Technically, there were some “highlights” from this year’s COP. For example, there was an agreement to reform the carbon market, where carbon credits are sold so companies can outsource and buy their way to net zero. However, this hasn’t gone anywhere near far enough to close the gaping loopholes and ethical issues with this scheme.
Meanwhile, there were some colossal losses, both for climate progress and the general dignity of the globe. Let me explain.
For over a decade, we have known that those who had the least hand in causing the climate crisis, i.e., developing countries, will be hurt the most by it. They tend to be in geographical locations that will experience the most extreme weather disasters caused by climate change. Their economies and infrastructure are also ill-equipped to mitigate, defend, or repair themselves from these disasters, which will not only lead to a genuinely horrific loss of life and suffering but also stifle the country from developing. On top of all of this, while renewables are by far the cheapest form of energy we have, they are expensive to deploy, so as these developing countries are forced towards net zero, it will drain their already sparse pocketbooks, making their development even more arduous.
Not only is this profoundly unjust, but because developed countries heavily rely on developing countries for outsourced labour, manufacturing, and materials, they too will suffer as a consequence, though more economically than physically.
This is why, years ago, at COP15, developed countries agreed to supply $100 billion in annual climate funds to developing countries to bolster their resilience to climate change and pay for their transition to net zero industries.
But, even back then, we knew this wasn’t enough. In the grand scheme of things, $100 billion is a drop in the ocean.
In recent years, multiple studies and reports have shown that developing countries will need more than $1 trillion in annual climate funds to prevent suffering and sustain any real chance of growth. Indeed, many of these have shown that this would actually be beneficial to developed countries, as, without it, the international supply chains and globalised economy they rely on would falter, costing them more than $1 trillion per year.
Consequently, developing nations came to COP29 with explicitly one goal: $1.3 trillion in annual climate funds from developed countries by 2035. Not only was this entirely reasonable and just, it would benefit everyone on planet Earth.
But, instead, the entire conference fell apart when this came to a head. Developed nations only agreed to pay $300 billion annually in annual climate funds to developing countries by 2035. This is three times more than the current climate fund, but it is less than a third of what is needed — and that isn’t even taking inflation into account! Not only that, but this new fund doesn’t address the worrying fact that developed nations are utilising loopholes in the current climate finance deal to massively profit off the backs of developing nations (read more here).
Needless to say, this shambles has been ridiculed. The head of Greenpeace’s delegation, Jasper Inventor, called it “woefully inadequate,” blaming countries that export fossil fuels as “merchants of despair.” India’s delegation accused the COP presidency of agreeing to the “paltry sum” without hearing the country’s opposition to it. Nigeria called the deal a “joke.”
Why did this happen? Having watched some of the talks, there seem to be many reasons. The presidency of the summit was lousy and overtly fossil fuel-friendly, the developed nations refused to take any form of accountability, and there was a palpable expectation to turn a blind eye to developed nations exploiting developing nations. It’s no wonder we made practically zero progress in such an environment.
So the question has to be asked: are these COP summits even worth it? If this is all we can muster, despite all the evidence, all the warnings, and all the imminent danger, why bother?
Hopefully, next year’s COP will be substantially better, as it will be hosted by Brazil, whose current president, Lula, is a huge climate advocate. In fact, Marina Silva, the Brazilian minister of the environment and climate change, told COP29 that the following talks will be the “COP of COPs” with “no more time to lose” and that “At COP30, our objective will be to do what is needed to keep 1.5C in reach.”
So, will next year’s be better? Well, I can’t see it being any worse than this year’s shambles.
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Sources: BBC, The Guardian, Will Lockett, UN, Euronews, Will Lockett, Will Lockett, WE Forum