A group of scientists and policy leaders including the architect of the Paris Agreement has said that the COP conference is “no longer fit for purpose” as the world’s focal response to climate change.
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In an open letter to United Nations member states published on Friday – five days into the COP29 talks in Baku, Azerbaijan – notable figures including Christiana Figueres, who was executive director of the landmark Paris climate treaty forged in 2015, said that the platform was is in need of a “fundamental overhaul”.
The reforms will enable the global community to deliver on agreed commitments and ensure the energy transition and phase-out of fossil energy, the group said.
Restrictions on fossil fuel influence
The letter, supported by 22 signatories, follows comments from the president of this year’s host country that oil and gas are a “gift of God”, and news that an official from Azerbaijan’s COP presidency had been using the event to broker fossil fuel business deals. Azerbaijan depends on oil and gas for 90 per cent of its export revenues.
Among seven suggestions for reform listed in the letter, the group called for the selection process for COP presidencies to be improved. “We need strict eligibility criteria to exclude countries who do not support the phase out or transition from fossil energy. Host countries must demonstrate their high level of ambition to uphold the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
Amid controversy over the influence of fossil fuel interests at COP, the open letter demanded “equitable representation” at the talks by implementing stronger transparency and disclosure rules, as well as clear guidelines that require companies to “demonstrate alignment between their climate commitments, business model and lobbying activities”.
A more equal balance of represented parties at the talks would improve the management of corporate interests, it said, noting that despite new disclosure rules for COP, a record 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access at last year’s COP28 in Dubai – nearly fourt times more than COP27.
“The fact that there were far more fossil fuel lobbyists than official representatives from scientific institutions, Indigenous communities and vulnerable nations reflects a systemic imbalance in COP representation.”
Coal, oil and gas lobbyists continue to have a presence at this year’s climate talks in Baku. According to new analysis, 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to COP29. Lobbyists outnumber the delegations of almost every country at the conference, noted the report, with the only exceptions being host country Azerbaijan, next year’s host Brazil, and Turkey.
The letter also said meetings should be more frequent, smaller and “solution-driven” and the process must include mechanisms to hold countries to account for their climate commitments. It called for standardised definitions of what qualifies as climate finance, including reporting and tracking mechanisms. This year’s event, COP29, has been dubbed the “implementation COP” with adaptation finance for vulnerable nations among the key negotiation topics.
The group noted the diplomatic milestones that the climate talks had achieved in the past decades and said despite some of its flaws, COP as a global policy framework is scientifically rigourous, economically sound and complete. “But the framework alone is not enough to solve problems.”
Signatories of the letter include Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Action Research, Ban Ki-moon, former UN secretary-general, and Sandrine Dixson-Declève, executive chair of Earth4All and global ambassador of the Club of Rome.
Dixson-Declève said in a statement: “We need a COP process that offers delivery, not delay. We demand COPs that are platforms for government and stakeholder ambition, not enablers of fossil energy contracts and growing greenhouse gas emissions.”
“After 28 COPs, time is up on negotiations that don’t foster action and implementation. Planetary stability is dependent on equality, justice and poverty alleviation to address the greatest existential challenge of our time,” she said.
This year’s climate talks in Baku have also been criticised for approving rules on carbon credits before the conference had even started, an approach critics say was rushed and departed from due process.
It has also been noted that four of the world’s top emitters, Indonesia, India, China and the United States, did not send their most senior officials to the talks.
The letter also called for the voices of scientists to be amplified, with the creation of a permanent scientific advisory body to be formally integrated into the COP structure, and for the links between poverty and planetary instability to be recognised.
An earlier version of the letter contained stronger language critiquing COP as being “no longer fit for purpose”. However an updated version removed this phrase in its call for reform.
“28 COPs have delivered us with the policy framework to achieve this [a global greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 4 billion tonnes],” the letter reads. “However, its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity.”
‘No progress’
Speaking to Eco-Business in Singapore, climate scientist professor Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said he believes that the COP process has been too slow to deliver action.
“Looking back over the past years, when countries were encouraged to increase ambition, there has been no progress. Since the first COP in 1995, carbon dioxide concentration has gone up by a staggering 60 per cent, putting the lives and livelihoods of the people COP was supposed to protect at increasing risk.”
He added that developed countries have fallen short of meeting a promise made through the COP meetings to provide US$100 billion a year to help vulnerable countries finance climate mitigation and adaptation.
“We’ve seen countries approving the development of new oil and gas fields, and despite parties signing a pledge to halt deforestation by 2030, global deforestation rates are at an all-time high,” Horton said.
The call for reform comes as global carbon emissions and climate-related human and economic losses reach near-record levels.
This story has been amended to reflect changes made to the language of the open letter, published on 15 November.
