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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Climate leaders were worried Trump would derail talks. They didn’t
know their host would be the wrecking ball
Analysis by Angela Dewan, International Climate Editor
Updated:
11:35 AM EST, Fri November 15, 2024
Source: CNN
From the moment the US election results rolled in, climate leaders knew
talks in Baku. What they didn’t foresee was the demolition job
Azerbaijan’s own leader would do from the inside.
In what should be one of the most urgent meetings of the year — aimed
at slowing a global crisis fast spiraling out of control — the talks
have descended into a circus of boycotts, political tirades and fossil
fuels celebrations. Its host, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, has
been its spectacular ringmaster.
Amid the chaos, prominent global climate leaders on Friday calling for
a “fundamental overhaul” of the entire UN climate process. It was
originally published saying the annual talks, known as Conferences of
the Parties (COPs), were “no longer fit for purpose,” but that
language was quickly removed.
A spokesperson for Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of The Club
of Rome — which published the letter — told CNN the edit was made
because the authors’ “constructive criticism” had been seized
upon by some parties to further their own interests at the talks,
though she didn’t name any party in particular.
But the edit doesn’t change the idea that the talks are, indeed,
losing their sense of credibility.
COP29 marks the third year in a row that the climate talks have been
held in either a petrostate, or economy that relies heavily on oil and
gas. The previous two were held in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt,
and all three were criticized for alleged human rights abuses in the
run-up to their events.
Among the open letter’s recommendations is to implement a “ to
exclude countries who do not support the phase out/transition away from
fossil energy” from holding COP presidencies.
Increasingly, the annual conferences have welcomed fossil fuel
interests into the fold. This year, more than 1,700 fossil fuel
lobbyists or industry players had been registered to attend the talks,
according to an analysis by a coalition of groups called Kick Big
Polluters Out.
This is a huge problem, said Alex Scott, a senior associate in climate
diplomacy at the Italy-based think tank ECCO.
“[Azerbaijan’s president] doesn’t sound like a guardian of the
Paris Agreement. There’s still a week left for this presidency to
show that they are fulfilling that role,” she told CNN from Baku. The
2015 Paris Agreement unites most of the world’s countries in a common
goal to limit global warming.
“But there are also 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists walking the halls
with us here,” she added, “and they’re also not guardians of the
goals of the Paris Agreement.”
Aliyev accuses France of ‘brutal repression’
On Tuesday, Aliyev used his opening remarks at the talks to fend off
criticism of Azerbaijan’s human rights record and defended its oil
and gas riches as “a gift of the god,” in a speech that explicitly
accused Western nations, NGOs and global media of “hypocrisy.”
On Wednesday, he again used his platform to launch a tirade against
France and the Netherlands. Speaking to island states facing an
existential threat of sea level rise, Aliyev accused both nations of a
“brutal repression” of voices in what he called their
“colonies,” in reference to overseas territories. He also blamed
France for recent deadly unrest on the semi-autonomous island of New
Caledonia.
Aliyev’s accusations were built around climate change arguments, but
Baku has been at loggerheads with both France and the Netherlands over
their stances on the Azerbaijan-Armenia territorial conflict.
France’s ecology minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, was due to lead
the French delegation but canceled her trip over the remarks.
The European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Joseph Borrell, chimed in
on X, calling Aliyev’s allegations “regrettable.”
“These unacceptable statements risk to undermine the conference’s
vital climate objectives and the credibility of Azerbaijan’s COP29
presidency,” he wrote.
The geopolitical chaos comes as global climate leaders scramble to find
ways to Trump-proof progress so far, as the president-elect has vowed
to again pull the US out of the Paris Agreement.
Already the prospect of Trump is emboldening like-minded leaders to
reconsider their own climate action. On Wednesday, Argentina’s
foreign ministry pulled out its delegation from COP29 without giving
any explanation. A source in President Javier Milei’s government
later told CNN that Argentina was considering withdrawing from the
Paris Agreement. Milei is a climate denier who has called global
warming a “socialist hoax.”
The talks come on the heels of what is set to be the hottest year on
record, and as back-to-back hurricanes killed more than 300 people in
the US alone.
Some scientists are questioning whether containing temperature rise to
1.5 degrees is still possible. To have any chance of doing so, carbon
pollution must halve this decade and the world must reach net zero by
mid century.
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