Reflecting on Climate Talks
This
week, as world leaders gather in Dubai for the
28th round of UN climate talks, I’ve been
reflecting on the one-and-only climate
negotiations that I’ve attended: the infamous
2009 Conference of the Parties (COP) 15 in
Copenhagen. I’d never been to anything like it —
tens of thousands of people, from activists, to
scientists, to world leaders, all descending on
a single conference center to hash out an
international agreement. I was young, and
probably more idealistic, and like many, I had
high hopes that COP15 would be the place where,
finally, we’d get a planet-saving plan.
Of
course, those hopes were not fulfilled. The
conference was widely regarded as a failure.
Countries formally agreed that it was important
to halt global warming at 2 degrees Celsius, but
didn’t get much farther than that.
Fourteen years later, as
the impacts of rising temperatures manifest all
around us, negotiators are
still trying
to come together to limit global heating to less
catastrophic levels.
As
COP28 enters its second week, it’s been hard to
recapture the sense of hope I felt back in
Copenhagen. Part of that has to do with the fact
that progress has been far too slow over the
intervening years. And part of it has to do with
this year’s negotiations specifically. COP28 is
being hosted by the United Arab Emirates, one of
the highest oil-producing countries in the
world, and led by oil executive Sultan Al Jaber.
Leaked
documents ahead of the talks
revealed
that the UAE planned to use its role as the host
as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals
with at least 15 nations.
Meanwhile, a record number of fossil fuel
lobbyists — more than 2,400 —
have been given access to the talks. A paltry
$700
million
have been pledged to the nascent “loss and
damage fund” meant to compensate developing
countries for the $400 billion in annual losses
they are already feeling from global heating.
And as time slips away for us to keep heating to
1.5 or even 2 degrees Celsius, global carbon
emissions are still
rising.
Thankfully,
there is also some good news to hold onto. For
one, the mere establishment of the loss and
damage fund represents an important step towards
building equity into the global climate
framework. There’s also a recent poll finding
that 78
percent of people worldwide
think it is “essential that our government does
whatever it takes to limit the effects of
climate change.” In other words, the popular
will for decisive, perhaps drastic, action is
there. Which means, hopefully, elected officials
are about to catch on and show the type of real
leadership we need on the issue.
It
may not fully happen in Dubai. But we’ll get
there. We have to.
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