Undoubtedly, Africa and countries in the global south are more than frustrated by the past COP28 UAE and COP29 Azerbaijan Summits. They failed to deliver concrete climate action and mitigation solutions for poorer countries.
During the COP29 climate meeting in Baku last November, several important personalities signed an open letter urging “fundamental reform” of COPs’ operations. They stated that COPs “simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale” as they are now structured.
The letter includes various proposals, including setting qualifying conditions for COP hosts. True to that, Azerbaijan received criticism for failing to reach COP goals. Moreover, President Ilham Aliyev advocated for using fossil fuels, a statement that surprised the world.
The letter also advocates for expediting negotiations, as we saw COP29 go past the deadline due to the failed finance COP talks. However, it disregarded the most fundamental and possibly consequential reform: establishing a voting role in climate discussions.
The letter adds that the COP process is failing to offer ambitious decisions to handle the urgency of the climate challenge. For instance, the goal to prevent surpassing the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark was set in COP25, but 2024 marked the year we finally crossed the temperature and became the hottest year ever.
To correct the failures of past COP summits, the letter suggests introducing carefully crafted voting rules. Of course, this will call for the involvement of both developed and developing countries to participate.
If approved, we call for the fair involvement of Africans and nations in the global south. Furthermore, they emit the least, but they still face the worst of climatic change‘s effects.
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