Hoping for a better result at COP29

Each year I have diligently reported here on the COP conferences, since the failed 2009 United Nations Copenhagen Summit. 

This year maybe not — here’s why. 

This year’s UN COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, will focus on climate finance and raising funds for developing countries affected by the climate crisis. 

Cop stands for “Conference of the Parties”, which is a generic phrase in international relations-speak. 

Each year a different country becomes the Cop president, in charge of running that year’s meeting. 

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, 194 nations agreed to reduce their GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions but few actually have — human-induced GHG emissions are rapidly increasing. 

We are aware of the activity of politicians, diplomats and government representatives, but they are far from being the only ones who attend the conference. Many others join, aiming to influence the outcome — some to push forward climate action,  others to advance their interests. 

Fossil fuel lobbyists join to try to protect the industry from much-needed action to keep coal, oil and gas in the ground. There was double the number of these delegates at COP28 in Dubai than at COP27. 

Indigenous peoples, contending with environmentally destructive industries, were calling for greater protections for their territories. 

Barriers exist to prevent environmental activists and civil society organisations from meaningfully participating in global decision-making — consequently, those most affected by the climate emergency don’t have a final say. 

During COP28 the fossil fuel lobbyists altered the call for a “phase out” to the less stringent “phase down”, ending with no legally binding document in play; the fossil fuel industry still has plenty of leeway to continue with business as usual. 

I am dubious of climate finance being a core topic at COP29. The summit’s success will be influenced by who gets to benefit from how climate innovations and markets would be controlled. 

Nonetheless, I will follow this year’s procedures hoping to witness a better result than the to-be-expected past failures. 

Bob Hughes