COP29 | Tipping Point North South

TPNS PARTICIPATION AT COP29

As many predicted, on the main issue of climate finance for global south countries, COP29 was indeed the failure many dreaded. Rich nations held to their position that they were unable to reach the public funding levels needed and – as feared – ended up relying on private finance and loans to shore up their paltry and insulting $300bn in order to reach the $1trillion plus annually needed. A far cry from the necessary and just $5tr annually called for by global civil society.

On phasing out fossil fuels, again, the full on commitment that was needed was not to be found. The oil lobby and Saudi Arabia led the charge to row back on Dubai COP28 commitment. This, combined with the finance failure, led to deep disappointment and anger on the part of not just civil society but many regional groupings and governments as well.

However, on the topic of military emissions and – vitally – military spending – it was clear that both are now widely recognised as important elements of the mitigation as well as the climate finance debates. Wider global civil society is now including military spending as part of its overall climate finance demands at COP; a number of states also linked military spending to climate finance.

It was very encouraging to see the relevance of public military spending to the climate finance demands made loud and clear at this COP2 and for TPNS to play its part in this issue ‘breaking out’ inside the official COP space. Deborah Burton attended the first week on behalf of TPNS and her attendance was supported by Movement for the Abolition of War. Continue reading →

To be a true ‘COP of Peace’ Baku needs to acknowledge the ‘hard’ issues that impact on peace, the climate emergency and climate finance.

Both recent civil society Global Weeks of Action (Payup and Phaseout 13-20 Sept) and (Peace and Climate Justice 21-28 Sept) timed to coincide with the UN Summit for the Future and UN General Assembly included urgent calls to address the impact of military emissions and spending on the climate agenda. With COP29 just a month away, we need to look at ‘COP of Peace’ and Azerbaijan’s ‘Joint Solemn Appeal for a COP29 Truce’.

The truce itself is a very timely wish, given relentless Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and now Lebanon, of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the ever-worsening and desperate humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan. The Geneva Academy charts the sorry state we are in: Middle East and North Africa have 45 armed conflicts ongoing; Africa, 35 armed conflicts; Asia 21 armed conflicts; Europe has seven armed conflicts; Latin America: six armed conflicts.

With social media and 24/7 news coverage, it is impossible not to know, not to see, the horrendous impact of war and conflict on men and women; infants and children; the elderly and the disabled.

To add to this, the global military carbon footprint (including its supply chain) is estimated to be around 5.5% of global GHG emissions. This figure does not include conflict emissions or post-conflict reconstruction. Researchers estimate the GHG emissions burden of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is currently estimated to be 175 million tCO2e. Latest research on Israel’s war on Gaza estimates the emission burden of 60 million tCO2e. As a result, since COP27 in Egypt, conflict-related GHG emissions have been included in the official COP programme and are now being referenced in negotiations.

How will Azerbaijan advance this? Continue reading →