As nearly 100,000 delegates descend upon Dubai for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s annual Conference of the Parties (COP), a fundamental question arises: What is a COP for? Here I argue that – while some good things are indeed still happening at this year’s COP (the 28th such meeting) – the event itself risks losing credibility as a meeting place where transformative and increasingly ambitious climate action should take place.
Ostensibly, these gatherings are meant to be primarily a diplomatic meeting for the nations which have signed on to the UN Convention to cooperatively plan a way to mitigate the risks of climate change, and push each other to do better. However, as the dust settles in the desert city, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the COP has become a bit of a circus, replete with empty promises, greenwashing and even climate-delaying activities.
The latest revelation that the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the host of this year’s COP, has been planning to use the conference to secure oil and gas contracts for its national oil company, Adnoc, is a glaring example of how COP has lost its way. Unfortunately, this was not altogether surprising to those with an eye on global climate politics: Months ago the UAE appointed Sultan Al Jaber – the CEO of Adnoc – to Chair COP28, a blatant conflict of interest. Sure enough, Al Jaber appears to have made it his mission to block new language about “phasing out” fossil fuels from getting into the final text of the conference. The creeping influence of vested fossil fuel interests at COP is a red flag for the legitimacy of this meeting going forward.
Moreover, the sheer size of this year’s COP – double the total from last year’s COP27 (itself a record) – is part of a disturbing trajectory which also threatens the social legitimacy of this conference. Hundreds of delegates have even traveled by private jet, which is one of the most climate-destructive activities a single individual can partake in. The sheer carbon footprint and ecological cost to get 100,000 people to a desert city is enormous. With a quarter of this year’s participants representing Parties this year, we have an absurd situation where each delegation has on average 124 representatives. Arguably, meetings would be more effective if governments sent a select group of high-ranking officials with the power to effect real change back home.
The creeping influence of vested fossil fuel interests at COP is a red flag for the legitimacy of this meeting going forward.
While civil society groups and media play a crucial role in holding negotiators accountable and driving momentum at COPs, their numbers have also swelled beyond reason. COPs should include non-governmental side meetings, but the focus should be on representing the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities, and the goal should be to shape the discussions going on ‘next door’ within the official plenary. Perhaps it is time to revisit the non-governmental participants eligible to attend COPs and forbid large corporate interests and powerful trade associations – let the latter have their meetings elsewhere, I say! If a lottery system is required to keep COPs to a more reasonable number of delegates – then so be it – so long as fairness is built into the system.
To make COPs sane again, we must seek a streamlined and refocused type of participation, involving key representatives from each Party, and stakeholders from global civil society (with extra focus on the world’s more climate-vulnerable communities – whose voices must be heard at COP most). The COP must become a platform for substantive discourse rather than a grandiose gathering filled with “blah blah blah” (as Greta Thunberg says). Moreover, stringent rules governing the involvement of the corporate sector are imperative – the fossil fuel industry has no place at a climate conference! Let us not forget that the true measure of the success of these conferences lies not in the grandiosity of the gathering but in the tangible and transformative actions that emerge to combat climate change.
