The United Nations Climate Change Conference requires “urgent reform”, according to a letter signed by 22 international sustainability leaders.
Signatories include Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary General of the United Nations, and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland & UN Special Envoy on Climate Change.
UN Secretary General António Guterres (right) meets with Ban Ki-moon, Former UN Secretary General in 2023 - Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
The letter says: “Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity.
“This is what compels our call for a fundamental overhaul of the COP.
“We need strict eligibility criteria to exclude countries who do not support the phase out/transition away from fossil energy. Host countries must demonstrate their high level of ambition to uphold the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
This comes after an undercover investigation by International NGO Global Witness that COP29 CEO Elnur Soltanov discussed investments in “gas fields that are to be developed" in a meeting about sponsorship of the conference.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev also told COP29 attendees oil and gas are a “gift of God”, which was shortly followed by António Guterres, UN Secretary General, calling doubling down on fossil fuels “absurd”.
At COP28, 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to the conference, and at least 1,773 more are at COP29 according to a report from the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition. At COP27 in Egypt, there were just 636 fossil fuel lobbyists.
What’s more, only two G7 leaders have decided to attend the 2024 event.
Positive progress at COP29
It’s not all doom and gloom – some positive progress has been made at COP29.
An early breakthrough came when standards were agreed for a mechanism under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, allowing for the trading of carbon credits internationally.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced new “ambitious” climate targets for the country, aiming to reduce emissions 81% by 2035.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer
Asset owners worth US$10tn committed to climate action together, accelerating the deployment of private capital into climate markets.
The Asian Development Bank and Azerbaijani banking sector promised US$3.5bn and US$1.2bn respectively to counter the impacts of climate change and support new green projects.
The Baku Initiative for Climate Finance, Investment and Trade (BICFIT) Dialogue was created with entities including the UNCTAD, UNDP and WTO.
Tech giant IBM announced new, publicly available AI tools to inform sustainable development around the world.
Open Building Insights is an IBM cloud platform that can determine the energy needs of areas and Modelling Urban Growth is an AI model to predict where cities will grow.
“Millions of people around the world don’t have basic access to electricity and new technologies such as AI can enable us to tackle this challenge,” says Justina Nixon-Saintil, VP and Chief Impact Officer at IBM.
Justina Nixon-Saintil, VP and Chief Impact Officer at IBM
“Through our IBM Sustainability Accelerator program, we are using AI solutions and expertise to scale projects that support communities worldwide and promote a just and equitable access to clean energy.
“In alignment with UN SDG7, we are proud to collaborate with partners and local communities to deploy innovative solutions, including predicting urban growth to forecasting electricity access”
How does the UN Climate Change Conference need to change?
The open letter contains seven suggested measures for reform:
- Improve the selection process for COP presidencies: Exclude countries who do not support the phase out of fossil energy
- Streamline for speed and scale: Now a policy map is fully developed, the conference must focus on delivery
- Improve implementation and accountability: The Paris Agreement is not working because governments are not held to account.
- Ensure robust tracking of climate financing: Climate financing pledges disbursed as interest-bearing loans exacerbate debt burdens.
- Amplify the voice of authoritative science: COP does not have its own permanent scientific advisory body.
- Recognise interdependencies between planet instability, poverty and inequality: Ecological and social change processes are linked and require action together.
- Enhance equitable representation: More fossil fuel lobbyists attended COP28 than official representatives from vulnerable nations, Indigenous communities and scientific communities.
The letter closes by saying: “Now, we must work together with urgency and purpose, transforming the climate COP so that it can take strategic, action-oriented and accountable decisions to deliver the scale of ambition commensurate with the defining challenge of our time.”
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