The Cop31 summit must produce progress, “a tangible result… that people can see is real”, its host said as many world leaders and representatives from nearly 190 countries gather in Turkey for UN climate talks.
The high-stakes meeting begins Monday, as countries around the world grapple with the most powerful El Niño weather system on record, supercharged by fossil fuels, which is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of lives and cause damage costing billions of dollars.
Friction is expected between the rich and poor worlds over who will pay for the impacts of the climate crisis and the slow pace of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Temperatures have broken records this year, surpassing the limit of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels aimed at in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Adão Soares Barbosa, chair of the Least Developed Countries, a negotiating group of 44 countries, said: “Keeping 1.5°C within reach by minimizing the duration and magnitude of the exceedance, providing accessible and predictable climate finance, strengthening adaptation and addressing loss and damage (caused to poor countries by extreme weather) are not political choices but questions of survival. The credibility of the Paris agreement will not be measured by promises made, but by commitments kept and lives protected in vulnerable countries.
Unusually, the negotiations will have two hosts: they will take place in the Turkish city of Antalya, but the formal negotiations will be chaired by Australia, following a compromise reached last year on their competing offers.
Chris Bowen, Australia’s Minister for Climate and Energy and chair of the Cop31 negotiations, told the Guardian in an interview: “We need a tangible implementation-driven outcome (of emissions reductions and financing) that people can see are real. We need progress, it has to be a step forward from previous Cops.”
Australia also wants a “strong and ambitious outcome” to uplift the plight of low-lying countries in the Pacific region for which the climate crisis poses an existential threat. “We need to finally raise some of the issues that are so important to our Pacific family,” Bowen said. “(Only) 0.2% of climate finance available globally goes to small island developing states for adaptation purposes, for countries whose very existence is at stake.”
But climate advocates and more than 500 Australian scientists said Australia must stop approving coal and gas mining projects if it wanted to escape the charge of hypocrisy.
The summit will have one notable absentee, with the United States refusing to send a delegation for the second year in a row. The Trump administration does not want to participate in “extremist climate policies” adopted by other countries, according to a White House spokesperson.
Shortly before the midterm elections in the United States, Donald Trump gloated about the huge profits made by oil and gas companies thanks to the war in Iran, which he started and which caused an increase in the cost of living around the world. “I don’t care,” the president said at a recent rally in Georgia. “I’ll say it: we make a fucking fortune.”
However, a group of 20 Democratic members of Congress made the trip to Antalya, encouraged by their party’s resounding success in last week’s U.S. midterm elections, which will allow them to thwart Trump’s attempts to dismantle pollution rules and suspend financial support for clean energy.
Developing countries and civil society will seek to place climate finance and justice at the heart of COP31 negotiations. Rukiya Khamis, East Africa program manager at campaign group 350.org, said: “Across East Africa, people are facing the devastating impacts of a climate crisis they did not cause. From prolonged droughts to destructive floods, we are losing homes, livelihoods and access to food and water. Yet the money needed to respond to these impacts remains out of reach for many countries and communities most affected. It is fundamentally unfair that those least responsible should bear the highest costs.
after newsletter promotion
This summer, more than 50,000 people died in Europe due to heatwaves, massive smoke from wildfires enveloped swathes of North America, and the collapse of a glacier in Nepal triggered a landslide that caused more than 1,500 deaths, while the El Niño weather event, described as “staggering” by scientists and yet to peak, is gaining momentum.
However, although progress in reducing global emissions has been slow, the war in Iran has prompted many countries to view fossil fuels as expensive and vulnerable to shocks, while prices of renewable energy continue to fall.
Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief, said before the negotiations: “Climate impacts hit every population and economy harder every year. (But) almost all major economies, and many medium-sized and small economies, now see climate action as a central driver of economic growth, jobs and affordable and secure energy.”
COP host Turkey also wants more countries to turn to electric technologies, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, because these are far more efficient than their fossil fuel counterparts. A target for 35% of the world’s final energy to come from electricity by 2035 will be on the table, but faces opposition from some.
Both president countries rely heavily on fossil fuels. Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and liquefied natural gas. The centre-left Labor government has set targets to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and produce more than 80% of its electricity from solar and wind by 2030, but it is far from being able to achieve them.
Labor also faces a political threat from the resurgent right-wing One Nation party, which rejects climate science. One Nation and the coalition of Liberal and National parties want to abandon net zero emissions.
UK Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said: “This summer we all felt it: climate change is here in Britain now. No country can tackle it alone, which is why Cop31 matters. The answer to high bills and climate change is the same: more clean, local energy, creating good jobs and warmer homes. Cop31 is about Britain’s national interest.”
Gn headline
