Hypocrisy and COP29

My friend Lowell Bliss has been an environmental and climate change activist for many years. He has attended eight of the UN Climate Change Conferences (COP), the latest in Baku, Azerbaijan. COP conferences exist to assess progress in dealing with climate change, to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to aid countries and communities that have contributed the least to climate change but have been the most hard-hit by climate change damage.

Lowell calls COP29 a “whitewashed tomb”. In his latest newsletter after returning home from the conference he writes this:

“The task given to COP29 was climate finance, to come up with a New Collective Quantifiable Goal (NCQG) whereby developed nations and historical polluters could assist developing nations in their mitigation and adaptation efforts. Scientists, economists, developing nation leaders, and civil society proposed the figure US$1.3 trillion as the necessary sum of annual payments. It’s a huge sum, for sure, but apparently not for the world governments who provide subsidies to fossil fuel companies to the tune of US$7 trillion annually.”

Lowell reports that Baku and the Conference location were beautiful. “The transportation system in the city worked reliably… Locals pointed out to us that the bike lanes and bus lanes were only installed two weeks earlier, as was the addition of an EV fleet of taxis and Ubers. That’s just something to smile about…”

But underneath the beauty it was reported that “at least 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to COP29, surpassing all the delegates from the ten most climate-vulnerable nations combined.”

And “in the end, COP29 landed on US$300 billion mobilized annually by 2035. UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell tried to put a positive spin on the meager outcome. He addressed the closing of COP29: ‘This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country. But like any insurance policy – it only works – if premiums are paid in full, and on time. Promises must be kept, to protect billions of lives.’”

On November 5 the USA voted for “Drill, baby, drill!”. Our drive for wealth will make us look lovely with our great homes, big cars and recreational gas-guzzling toys. But inside, we’ll be dying, and we will be taking our world with us.

Read Lowell’s complete newsletter here.

Check out his “Eden Vigil Institute” here.

Infographic by Colin Hoogerwerf,  a member of Team Week Two of Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP2024) at COP29 in Baku.