Stockholm (NordSIP) – Here at NordSIP we assiduously cover the steady stream of COP meetings that come up, looking to report on any significant progress or new developments that could be important for our institutional investor readership.
A damp squib in the Glasgow drizzle
COP26 was presided over by the UK, a somewhat distracted nation with a revolving-door government comprising people either opposing net-zero, actively promoting climate change denial or offering tax incentives for new oil and gas exploration. Perhaps little surprise then when the UK government was successfully sued for breaching the country’s own Climate Change Act. The outcome of COP26 came as a damp squib, with disappointingly vague language in a rather unenthusiastically compiled conference statement. There was quite an argument about phasing “out” or phasing “down” coal use.
Lost in the desert
Then came COP27, sponsored by Coca Cola, the world’s worst corporate plastic polluter and held in Egypt, to the surprise and disappointment of human rights and environment campaigners. There was some success in reaching an agreement in principle on a loss and damage fund for those developing countries most affected by climate change. It remains to be seen how and when this fund will be financed. The other emerging trend from these latest COP meetings was the growing number of sponsors and delegates that could be identified as fossil fuel lobbyists. It was estimated that the number of such lobbyists outnumbered the attendees from the 10 countries most at risk from climate change.
Sleeping with the enemy?
Now for this year’s COP28, where fossil fuel involvement is taken to the next level. Not only is the event being hosted by the United Arab Emirates – the world’s 7th largest oil producer, but the proposed COP28 president is none other than Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). It is now being revealed that Adnoc employees and executives are joining the team organising the conference. There are some arguments to be made about involving all sides in the solution, but one cannot help but feel this is akin to getting Jack Daniels to sponsor an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Laundromat very much looks forward to COP29, scheduled for Riyadh in 2024, with corporate support from ExxonMobil, Hummer and Koch Industries. In all seriousness, when the International Energy Agency and the United Nations and many others have conclusively demonstrated that climate disaster is inevitable without the immediate cessation of fossil fuel exploration and extraction, it is hard not to join Greta Thunberg and become cynical about a COP process that will not even include that notion in its official statements. There are still ten months to go before COP28, so let us hope that those involved will use that time to restore faith in the process.
Image courtesy of Az1975 from Pixabay
Stockholm (NordSIP) – Here at NordSIP we assiduously cover the steady stream of COP meetings that come up, looking to report on any significant progress or new developments that could be important for our institutional investor readership.
A damp squib in the Glasgow drizzle
COP26 was presided over by the UK, a somewhat distracted nation with a revolving-door government comprising people either opposing net-zero, actively promoting climate change denial or offering tax incentives for new oil and gas exploration. Perhaps little surprise then when the UK government was successfully sued for breaching the country’s own Climate Change Act. The outcome of COP26 came as a damp squib, with disappointingly vague language in a rather unenthusiastically compiled conference statement. There was quite an argument about phasing “out” or phasing “down” coal use.
Lost in the desert
Then came COP27, sponsored by Coca Cola, the world’s worst corporate plastic polluter and held in Egypt, to the surprise and disappointment of human rights and environment campaigners. There was some success in reaching an agreement in principle on a loss and damage fund for those developing countries most affected by climate change. It remains to be seen how and when this fund will be financed. The other emerging trend from these latest COP meetings was the growing number of sponsors and delegates that could be identified as fossil fuel lobbyists. It was estimated that the number of such lobbyists outnumbered the attendees from the 10 countries most at risk from climate change.
Sleeping with the enemy?
Now for this year’s COP28, where fossil fuel involvement is taken to the next level. Not only is the event being hosted by the United Arab Emirates – the world’s 7th largest oil producer, but the proposed COP28 president is none other than Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). It is now being revealed that Adnoc employees and executives are joining the team organising the conference. There are some arguments to be made about involving all sides in the solution, but one cannot help but feel this is akin to getting Jack Daniels to sponsor an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Laundromat very much looks forward to COP29, scheduled for Riyadh in 2024, with corporate support from ExxonMobil, Hummer and Koch Industries. In all seriousness, when the International Energy Agency and the United Nations and many others have conclusively demonstrated that climate disaster is inevitable without the immediate cessation of fossil fuel exploration and extraction, it is hard not to join Greta Thunberg and become cynical about a COP process that will not even include that notion in its official statements. There are still ten months to go before COP28, so let us hope that those involved will use that time to restore faith in the process.
Image courtesy of Az1975 from Pixabay
