FORSETH: COP shakedown didn't quite work, this year

This year's iteration of the UN Climate Change Conferences — COP29 — has just wound up in Baku, in petro-state Azerbaijan. These meetings, the so-called ‘Conference of the Parties’, are where the world comes together to agree on actions to address the ‘climate crisis.' This they define as limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And so, COP29's key priority was securing commitments on ‘climate finance,’ so that every country could take more robust climate action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.Thus, COP29 planned to bring together world leaders and negotiators from the UN member countries to spur global progress, including business leaders, young people, climate scientists, indigenous peoples and civil society, sharing insights and best practices to strengthen global climate action.The key priority was then to secure commitments on ‘climate finance’ so that 'every country' had the means to take stronger climate action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.In other words, wealth transfer.The history of the COP conventions is an incredible story.But, despite COP29's ambitious goal of focusing on 'climate finance,' the conference fell short of its intended outcome. The disparity between countries' grand pledges and their actual financial contributions was stark, with many nations not confirming their rhetoric with tangible financial support for climate strategies.As the host country this year, Azerbaijan was undoubtedly happy to receive significant spending from the 40,000+ people who attended the dilettante gab fest. However, attendees were in for a shock. In his opening remarks to convene COP29, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev described Oil as a "gift of God," being very conscious of his country's significant oil reserves, that he has no intention of keeping in the ground.His message was backed up by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC,) which noted, "Oil and gas are indeed a gift of God. They impact how we produce, package, and transport food and how we undertake medical research, manufacture, and distribute medical supplies.”Ouch! After 29 years of manipulating world opinion to make people feel guilty about petroleum production, and asserting that such evil must be reduced to save the planet, participants heard a reality check.The conference plan this time, was to get obscene amounts of money transferred from wealthier countries to poorer ones. A trillion dollars! But what they heard was that a deal on international climate finance should allow support for more natural gas projects to help countries transition away from dirtier fuels like coal. With a pro-fossil fuel stance from many in Baku, discord and rage created protest demonstrations at the conference. It is something that previous oil and gas-producing COP host nations like UAE, Egypt, and Scotland had managed to avoid by using slippery language and disingenuous maneuvers.The absence of leaders from major economies who were notably missing from COP29, underscored the lack of high-level political commitment to climate finance. However, 100 world leaders did attend. Nevertheless, this year's smaller conference had about half the number of delegates compared to COP28 in Dubai last year, which claimed attendance of over 83,000 delegates.Among those missing were large numbers of venture capital funds, private equity firms and major investment bankers who were visible in Dubai COP28. COP29 was intended to achieve a new goal of a pool of money provided by developed countries to finance the climate mitigation efforts of developing countries. The shakedown plan was in the range of $1.3 trillion.No significant climate financial arrangement had been agreed to before beyond $100 billion. However, countries at the previous summits broadly agreed that richer countries, supposedly responsible for much of the CO2 emissions, should help poorer and more climate-vulnerable nations deal with natural disasters and their transition to green energy.Instead, not even a portion of the goal was pledged on Friday, when a figure of $300 billion a year by 2030 was outlined at the conference's end, to howls of disappointment from the environmentalists.The two weeks of talks have been marked by division between wealthy governments resisting costly outcomes and developing nations pushing for more.NGOs and environmental organizations criticized the final figure, as they are never shy about spending other people’s money. But politicians from developed nations defended the outcome, noting they were not about to sign blank checks. Demanding a trillion dollars per year in the present global political climate was a fantasy.And so, COP29 ended inconclusively. The drama will repeat next November, of course, in Belém, Brazil. The cry babies said that rich countries have spent decades stalling genuine progress on climate finance. Speakers from the ‘global south’ claimed they suffer the most catastrophic consequences of a climate crisis they did not create. They said that the final communique needs to catch up on the crucial element of declaring a clear commitment to a climate finance goal.Canada’s COP29 representative talked a great game. Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change said, “Finance is all about partnership. Increasing investments to support clean energy, clean cooking, and energy security require reforms to ensure that funding reaches the people and communities on the frontlines of climate change in developing countries, including indigenous peoples, women, workers, and young people. The goal must reflect needs and avoid increasing the debt burden of vulnerable countries. The development of a new goal provides us with a collective opportunity to show that the Paris Agreement is working to tackle the climate crisis. We came here with a purpose, and we understand our responsibilities. Let us show the world that we can keep 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach, and agree to a financial goal that will help us get there.”Sure.Nevertheless, Canada has not explicitly announced an additional financial number related to COP29. Canada had previously committed to give $5.3 billion by 2026 to participate, and no extra money was announced. Over the years, Canada has dropped cash by the truckload into the developing world. At some point, reason must prevail.The transfer of money plan is based on the controversial assumption that there is a climate crisis, and that spending can change climate trends. While adaptation to changing climate realities is required to minimize the damage from occasional extreme weather, the underlying science that should drive policy does not match the huge international annual United Nations COP spectacle.

FORSETH: COP shakedown didn't quite work, this year

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