*Thoughts post Sharm El-Sheikh (COP27)*
COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, this month was the hope for many to be a major Conference of the Parties (COP) on Climate Change marking the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Yes, a lot of private planes arrived, a lot of meetings and presentations took place like any other COP. However, I would agree with comments by others noting COP27 was disappointing to say the least….I echo that!
Let me summarise:
Nothing was agreed that makes 1.5°C target achievable. If anything, it was a reminder perhaps this target may not be achieved.
There were more talks about finance and damage limitation, not focusing on combatting with a strong hand but trying to cushion the blow with a weak hand so to speak.
It could be argued it is important for Heads of States/Senior Officals to meet every year, in person, to speak about something that is pretty serious like climate change. However, the expectation is between every annual COP a lot of action is to take place in countries involved. If theres isn’t much action, isn’t the annual COP becoming ‘a meeting about a meeting’, which itself contributes to climate change with the hundreds of private planes that arrived in Sharm.
I appreciate some things are better done in person but were hundreds of private planes really required to arrive to talk about climate change.
To some degree, I’m willing to buy the story that Heads of States/Senior Officals require a certain level of protection when travelling. Let’s run with that thought….I want to see the day when Heads of States lead by example. I want to see the day President Biden (US) calls and Prime Minister Trudeau (Canada) and says “My team have worked out we are better off plane-pooling. I guess it would work in the same way as car-pooling. Shall we share a plane to COP, maybe we pick up a few others along the way to keep emissions down too. We can have a cuppa/drink together on the plane and a chat about climate action too”.
We want to see real leadership!!
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7001587104338051072
