29th time lucky!
The 29th UN Climate Change Conference (“COP29”) begins today in the oil capital of Baku, Azerbaijan. This is the 29th time that the global political elite have met with the opportunity to act to solve climate change. However, it always comes down to the same thing, is WE bigger than ME? Will short-term national interests Trump global survival? (you see what I did there?).
The key sticking point is delivering finance from rich nations (like us) to poor nations to help cope, adapt and move towards low-carbon economies. Why should we care about this in the UK? The planetary system doesn’t care where the emissions come from.
If we don’t help out, then who are we to wag fingers at a poor country developing all its fossil fuels in the hope of bringing economic prosperity? The 2015 goal of $100 billion/year of climate finance has never been met. The UN reports the needs of lower-income countries is more like one trillion dollars per year.
• 29th COP
• Azerbaijan has just shut its borders to keep out protesters
• 32,000 participants (how many of them fossil fuel lobbyists?)
• 2024 on course to be beyond the 1.5 degree target set in 2015
• Floods in Valencia, cyclones in the Philippines, Hurricane Helene in the US, wildfires in New Jersey among many others
• Trump in the White House
This isn’t about politics; it’s about life.
