COP29 reporter – week two (more like ‘weak too’)
Week one had oil being touted as a “gift from god”, a national pavilion giving away fracking colouring books, the UN having to step in due to a lack of vegan options, the closure of a land border to prevent protests … oh, and the small matter of the G20 mostly not bothering to turn up. In fact, the G20 organised a rival party in Brazil this week. Baku or Brazil – which party would you go to?
MARS attacks!
MARS (methane alert and response system) has highlighted how much methane is being released into the atmosphere through leaks. Natural gas or methane has 28 times the global warming effect of CO2 over a 100-year period and it is imperative to stop any fugitive gas emissions. At COP29, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) revealed that MARS has flagged up more than 1,200 mega-leaks to countries and companies around the world. Unfortunately, this only prompted 15 actions to fix the leaks.
“To have any chance of getting global warming under control, methane emissions must come down, and come down fast,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP executive director. “There are often simple repairs. We are quite literally talking about screwing bolts tighter in some cases.”
Taking the fun out of fund
With floods hitting Spain to typhoons battering the Philippines and forest fires in the US, extreme weather is hitting the world hard – but don’t expect communities to get help from the world’s economies for adapting. The UN Adaptation Fund received strangely low contributions, with only $61 million, against its annual goal of $300 million.
This despite UN secretary-general António Guterres and the UN climate chief Simon Stiell asking rich countries to fill the huge gap in adaptation funding, a gap which could reach $187 billion-$359 billion per year by 2030.
“These missing dollars are not abstractions on a balance sheet: they are lives taken, harvests lost and development denied,” said Guterres.
Is COP party time for fossil fuels?
A report found that at least 1,770 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to COP29.
Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) analysis found that more fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to the conference than the combined number of delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations in attendance. At least 480 lobbyists working on carbon capture and storage programmes were also reported.
An open letter has been published arguing that countries which expand oil and gas production should be prevented from hosting COPs. It has been signed by former UN climate change chief Christiana Figueres and former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.