‘Worst week of COP in 15 years’: UN climate summit on brink
Reports from Baku suggest environmental talks at the world’s most significant climate event are on the verge of collapse against a backdrop of geopolitical upheaval.
COPs haven’t always resulted in progress, with 2009’s summit in Copenhagen and 2019 in Madrid leading to little or no changes to the state of play in environmental terms.
Nevertheless, with crisis denialism gaining a significant foothold in Europe amid the spread of populism, and Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House, reports suggest a growing sense of futility threatens to collapse current talks, rather than just delay or derail them.
‘This is the worst first week of a Cop in my 15 years attending this summit,’ the influential climate campaign Mohamed Dow wrote on X. ‘There’s no clarity on climate finance goal or how it’s going to be made accessible to vulnerable countries.
‘We have an opportunity of a lifetime to protect the Earth and life on it. But an opportunity of a lifetime matters only if it’s attained during that lifetime,’ he continued in another post to the network. ‘This is the only lifetime we have. We must protect our planet or it to sustain life.’
Over the weekend, the UN’s climate chief Simon Stiell attempted to cut through the noise and issue a warning to the world’s wealthiest nations that would appeal to their fiscal security, rather than their ethical obligations.
The G20 meet today in Brazil, and unless an agreement is made on where the hundreds of billions of finance experts say will be needed to help the world’s poorest tackle the crisis and adapt to its impact, the richest will face ‘economic carnage’.
‘The G20 was created to tackle problems that no one country or group of countries can tackle,’ he continued. The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, echoed feelings of frustration. Arriving in Brazil, he admitted to being ‘concerned about the state of negotiations at COP29 in Baku.’
Another major bone of contention has also surfaced in the form of last year’s deal to phase out fossil fuels — a spurious goal which, to date, has no roadmap or agreed approach. Bloomberg published a story on Saturday suggesting “a fight” was building in Azerbaijan over whether countries should double down on their pledge to work towards total decarbonisation. European and US negotiators apparently consider restating this commitment as essential, while nations including Saudi Arabia appear to be delaying this step, mirroring their efforts to block, slow and water down the deal at COP28.
Today marks the first day of the final week of COP29, arguably the most important edition to date, with last year’s major win — a collective agreement to start ending our dependence on gas and oil — laying the groundwork for what should, on paper, be a landmark summit. Ending not just with a decarbonisation road map, or a finance deal, but potentially both. The next four days will be pivotal in rebuilding momentum, and setting the tone for sentiment surrounding COP30 in Brazil next year.
More on COP29:
40% plastic production reduction won’t limit global warming to 1.5C
Industrial Transition Accelerator: COP must deliver $1tn investment
Image: Adil Sattarov
‘