On November 12,  Belem, Brazil will see world leaders from major global countries discussing ethics, justice, and human rights in the context of climate change in this year’s COP 30. COP 30 is an eleven day event that many are looking at with tentative and perilous hope, especially after the IS left the Paris Agreement.

Why is this COP focusing on Climate Justice and What Role Does Finance Play in That? 

It is evident that climate change exuberates existing inequalities, disproportionately harming the poor, the disabled, and women. Moreover, climate change is unequal in its nature, where often those who contributed the least to rising CO2 Levels are most likely to face climate chaos. Furthermore, many of these places lack the finances to create adaptive infrastructure to face the extreme weather events that many experts say are coming. Such finance and adaptation is yet another theme on the “COP of truth,” agenda, despite COP 29’s Finance COP’s highly dividing and contested results. 

Why Hope?

Even as indigenous protesters struggle to enter the venue and many are questioning the impact of the cruise ships hosting world leaders for this event, others continue to look to the event with hope, especially given the stances of developing nations. 

 India, for one, has called for a definition for climate finance, so that developing countries can get the promised means to move to greener energy and technology. This is based on the principle of climate justice that asks that polluters pay for their emissions instead of putting the blame on developing countries which are still reliant on fossil fuel to provide for their people, despite renewables becoming cheaper and more accessible. Fossil fuel reliance is one of the leading causes of climate change, as burning coal releases copious amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, and our carbon sinks like the Amazon rainforest- which is part of the thematic significance of the current COP- are being cut down. President Lula who wanted to protect the Amazon, too, with his aim for zero deforestation and zero emissions, had to give in and allow drilling at the mouth of the Amazon river due to the  economic needs of his nation, according to the team at Eko, despite environmentalists questioning these claims.  One of the main reasons for these protests was the potential impact the drilling at the mouth of the Amazon might have on delicate ecosystems and indigenous communities in the area. This just goes to show how difficult climate action can be for developing economies- especially if the leadership believes oil is the way to a green transition. Yet…given the extreme weather events most places have seen in the past year itself, we know, we cannot afford to delay the transition away from fossil fuels. Lula’s government has done good for the climate movement, as noted in a statement to Mongabay-

“The government has recovered a considerable part of the damage done by the Bolsonaro administration,” Márcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, which is a network of civil society groups working to stop climate change shared to Mongabay. He added, “It brought COP to Brazil, reduced deforestation and created the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.”

And yet, the government’s NDC falls below what is required to keep emissions below the 1.5 degrees of warming agreed upon in the Paris Agreement. Astrini also questions the new oil goals, calling them expansionist instead of transitionary. 

These stories are not just limited to Brazil. India is still heavily reliant on coal, despite becoming the third largest producers of renewables in the world. As noted on Substack Noahpinion, historically, when there is an alternate source of energy found, we do not move away from the original source but find other progress for it to fuel. In today’s case that would be the data servers for AI. Use of AI is a topic that has been included in the themes at COP30. Environmentalist Shelby Orome from Texas has pointed out how fast we adapted to AI but not renewables, despite some feeling

the comparison isn’t quite right. The impact of AI remains a muddled climate ground. 

Experts have called this a COP for action, not aspiration, where concrete action and delivery of such promises should be prioritised. Many countries, President Lula of Brazil notes, that were to submit their new climate targets in September are yet to show anything. Given that the US has left the Paris Agreement, these are worrying trends in global climate action…which have come at a time where extreme weather events are undeniable. Experts say we likely have crossed the first global tipping point, meaning we have pushed our planet’s coral reefs beyond repair, which will have a domino impact on surrounding ecosystems. The worst part? Even the experts and leaders at COP had to face these perilous unforeseen weather events. The venue for the COP itself was flooded, with people commenting- “a drought one day, a flood the next.” This poignant statement highlights the consequences of our overconsumption and unsustainable lifestyles, and the people’s frustration with ineffective climate action on a systemic level. Yet, we must not forget that such climate extremes are mainly the actions of corporations which choose profit over planetary well-being, and cannot be pinned on individuals, despite the Indica footprint. 

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The Way Forward

While one can see that developing economies, such as India and Brazil, are at the forefront this COP, we must wait to see whether “implementation” will truly occur at the event or if it will remain another pen-pushing meet where promises are made with no delivery dates and targets are set with no legal requirement to fulfil them. Past climate conferences provide us with enough data to tell us exactly what a lack of accountability leads to. After all, given the current trends, we are looking at a 2 degrees warmer world, despite the advances in technology in recent years. Yet, given that the High Seas Treaty was passed just earlier this year itself, we cannot also deny that climate action is happening. Who knows, perhaps COP30 will be the turning point in our war for the survival of humanity on planet Earth.

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