A few months ago, students and my colleagues at Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) asked whether I would be heading to Baku for COP29, the UN Conference of the Parties. I was puzzled.
The COPs seem to have generated their own sense of fear of missing out (FOMO), a need to be there in order to ‘make change happen’. However, those who have attended past COPs will tell you that at these large and chaotic events your ability to make change happen is very limited. Access to the areas where negotiations take place is carefully managed, there are multiple zones with increasing security to ensure only those put forward by their nations are present in the inner sanctums of COP. And even then, the confusion of articles, roadmaps, frameworks and working groups delivered at a snail’s pace is enough to put anyone off actually attending.
Delayed action
This year appears to be no different. In the backdrop of extreme weather events destroying lives around the world, COP negotiators argue over language, individual words that are apparently critical to climate action or more likely inaction.
As someone who works primarily on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, the circus of COP is perhaps a necessary international moment for climate change policy. It gives us an opportunity to remind people that climate change is important. But the hype is followed by the inevitable disappointment of limited decisions.
Trying to follow COP’s entourage of policy documents is not easy but we have our allies in the form of Carbon Brief who have summarised the key outcomes.
This year was all about money. However, despite this focus, discussions on how to finance climate adaptation have been pushed to transitional meetings of the UN’s Adaptation Committee which will only take place next year.
In fact, only one of the five agenda items for adaptation was discussed. The rest has been side-lined for next year – a common approach within the busy and slow discourse of COPs. As UCL’s Professor of Disasters and Health Ilan Kelman highlighted in 2021 ‘the negotiations become an excuse to slow action while thieving the world’s resources.’
Urgent climate adaptation in Scotland
Agreement on a global goal for adaptation was progress but considering that it has taken 10 years to materialise you would be forgiven for feeling underwhelmed. Yet, back in Scotland we recognise the critical importance of adaptation.
We have now passed the point of keeping our climate within a manageable state. Our actions have severe and new consequences for us all in the form of extreme weather events and rapid changes to our weather patterns that will outstrip our ability to adapt without taking serious steps now. Despite this terrifying reality, COP continues to focus on emissions reductions.
It goes without saying that mitigation is vital, however what enables the reaching of net zero emissions is adaptation.
Kelman also highlights a significant detrimental issue, that adaptation and mitigation continue to be siloed and not considered together. Our understanding of the co-benefits of addressing vulnerability and capacity for both a green and resilient energy transition exists and has done for many years. COP is not debating new knowledge. Indeed Kelman highlights that there are activists and negotiators younger than the COP process itself.
What does COP mean for us in Scotland? Should we get on the roller-coaster, attempt to travel to far flung destinations to attend these high-level debates? Or should we focus our efforts on supporting local level action, providing an enabling environment for our governments to make better and informed decision that will benefit our people and those around the world?
We all have a role to play in protecting our environment, supporting those at risk from extreme hazards and resourcing our communities to transition toward a healthier future. Don’t let COP slow you down.
Related links
COP29: Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Baku
Do we really need more climate change COPs? By Ilan Kelm
Insights into the Scottish National Adaptation Plan
Climate change negotiations again – But don’t despair