COP30 under difficult conditions

COP 29-CMP 19-CMA 6 closing plenary Credit- Vugar Ibadov-UNFCC

Almost 10 years after the Paris Agreement on climate change, the UN Climate Change Conference COP30 begins on 10 November in Belém, Brazil. The prerequisites for effective climate policy have not really improved since the disappointing COP29 in Baku. 

Every single month of this year has been among the three warmest of its kind since measurements began. September was the third warmest globally. The concentration of climate-damaging CO2 in the atmosphere is at a record high, according to the World Meteorological Organization. However, the world is still failing to pull in the same direction. While many countries are making an effort to submit more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs), all this remains far too little to limit warming to 2 degrees, let alone the 1.5 degrees mentioned in the Paris Agreement. 

For some, climate action is a matter of survival; others consider it all a joke. At the helm of the USA, the second-largest emitter after China, is the most powerful climate denier of them all. Donald Trump proclaimed to the assembled world community at the UN headquarters that, for him, climate change is “the greatest con job ever perpetrated”. How must the representatives of the countries most affected by the climate crisis have felt at that moment? 

Some of them have joined forces to form the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF). In the run-up to COP30, in view of the disaster which is already unfolding, they are demanding more funds to protect themselves against climate change impacts. “We must reshape a global financial system that is too slow, delivers too little and burdens the next generation with the cost of today’s delays,” criticised Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados and current CVF president.

Sovereign climate risk insurance is one way to mitigate the consequences of the climate crisis. It can help bridge financial gaps when disaster strikes, but comes with its own risks and side effects. – D & C Newsletter