[ad_1]
A SPRAWLING TRAVELLING EXPO
The expo site in Dubai was an extraordinary facility that tested the walking shoes and endurance of everyone there.
Like a travelling climate expo, it welcomed any and all. The negotiations felt like an afterthought at times, in the shadow of countless forums, speaker events, technology showcases and shiny national pavilions.
This might have been peak COP, an unsustainably large and exhausting exercise.
Next, it will move to Azerbaijan. And so will follow the criticism that fossil-fuel producing nations should not be setting the climate agenda, as the Baku government will soon do when it takes over from the UAE.
A country whose foreign exports are 95 per cent composed of natural gas and oil will find itself wedged within a political and ideological battle, ripe for criticism from some, and into the embrace of others.
In 12 months’ time, it seems inevitable that the same debates over a final, agreed, effective text will be taking place. The 1.5 degree “North Star”, as described by Sultan Al Jaber, might still guide us, but climate-vulnerable nations will be even more desperate to keep it within sight.
Accelerating towards a just transition, zero-emissions economies, better protections of nature and ecosystems and finding solutions to adapt to inevitable disasters that will unfold in the years to come will be a shared challenge, the world over.
Fighting over words just doesn’t seem like the way to make it happen.
Jack Board is CNA’s climate change correspondent.
[ad_2]
Source link