by Dr John N Telesford
The United Nation’s Small Island Developing State (SIDS) Papua New Guinea (PNG), declared the Conference of the Parties ‘the COP’ on Climate Change, “a waste of time”.
As such, the Foreign Minister of the country branded the global warming negotiations as being “…full of empty promises from big polluters.”
In what may be the first and an unprecedented move, PNG would boycott the COP29 which takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 11 November 2024. The Foreign Minister said, “We are sick of the rhetoric as well as the merry-go-round of getting absolutely nothing done over the last 3 years. Why are we spending all this money going to the other side of the world going to these talkfests?”
The SIDS group has always prided itself as being a voice and a force to be reckoned with at these international meetings. Indeed, they would have had a few wins, although many watered down a bit, including the text on “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels” (Paris Agreement, Article 2 1(a)) — remember the catchy slogan “1.5 to stay alive.” But since that time, SIDS continue to struggle to get any meaningful action on aspects such as funding for ‘adaptation” and ‘loss and damage’. Although here at home, we boast of the Nawasa G-Crews project that should build some resilience in the water sector on the island.
However, at the crux of the matter of climate change is mitigation, which is reducing or preventing the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs), including carbon dioxide emissions, from human activities. Without mitigation, we may very well find that all our adaptation projects were just a temporary break from preventing major future impacts from events increased by the changing climate.
Therefore, one of the major outcomes of the COP, which has been cleverly avoided and diluted by the big country polluters, is weaning the world off fossil fuel consumption and transitioning most energy systems to renewable and more sustainable energy systems. What occurred at COP28 was the use of phrases such as: “phase-down of unabated coal power” and “net zero emission energy systems, utilising zero- and low-carbon fuels.”
A commentator from the Philippines predicts that “As COP29 will be hosted, for the second successive year, by a leading petroleum producer, there is little reason for optimism that a breakthrough will happen this year. Last year’s COP28 in Dubai resulted in most initiatives aimed at speeding up the energy transition and reducing the use of fossil fuels being watered down; we expect more of the same this year.”
As SIDS delegates, including Caribbean SIDS, travel to the climate summit to negotiate for another year, I would like them to consider the question that was prompted by the Editorial Board of the Manila Times: “Has COP outlived its usefulness?”
The flights are long, and the fight on the international stage at the COP meetings would be even longer and harder. The reality of the situation is that weaning from fossil fuels would be an uphill task. Oil and gas (fossil fuels) still seem to be the preferred choice for fuelling many of our SIDS development. Therefore, it would be here to stay for a long while still. The arguments for that are 1) the developed world took that pathway so why limit the developing world, and 2) small islands are very low emitters of greenhouse gases.
However, if we hold on to those arguments for too long, the developed world will simply bring us to the table every year to just ‘talk’. Unfortunately, talking cannot reverse the man-made changing climate; action will. Therefore, I call for ‘differentiated action’ (to the best of my knowledge, my phrase), with the big polluters taking more decisive action to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. We are tired of hearing about differentiated responsibilities; we need massive action from the countries most responsible.
If there is no ‘differentiated action soon, the answer to the question “Has the COP outlived its usefulness?” may very well be YES! And in this case more SIDS should follow PNG and boycott the meetings going forward.
Let us leave the “big boys” to talk amongst themselves and take a page out of PNG’s book who are doing more bilateral negotiations. Or, according to the Philippines, if we do go “our delegation to COP29 [and those going forward] should use [significant] time to seek their own bilateral agreements, as Papua New Guinea is doing, and encourage other countries in similar circumstances to do the same. If that can be achieved, it could be the breakthrough the world has been looking for since before 2015.” However, PNG is confident they can achieve meaningful bilateral agreements outside of the COP.
Therefore, a boycott may just violently jolt the big boys into the realities of the “ole-talk” that dominated the COP negotiations over the decades, and more specifically since the Paris Agreement in 2015. Indicating that the COP may “just be a waste of time.”
And now, President-elect Trump is back, a next episode for COPs and the changing climate. Stay tuned!
Of course it’s a waste of our time and money but those thousands who go have a wonderful time and don’t want the fun to stop. Plus it is a great internation plug for that scam called global warming
As I recall a Minister from St Lucia boycotted the last COP for similar reasons – very little movement from the big polluters. Could not agree more Mr Telesford, it has just become a trip abroad for a number of SIDS and the money spent by the host could do so much more towards mitigation for the islands. Until the SIDS and other like minded people think outside the box or do the same as PNG, we are stuck on this merry go round of the big polluters.