Every COP has been a failure

Sheffield was one of many cities that hosted a Climate Justice march on Saturday. 

Record heat in our atmosphere and oceans is driving climate disasters across the globe, with those who’ve done the least to cause this crisis suffering the most. Global North countries have far exceeded their fair share of the earth’s carrying capacity and are primarily responsible for the climate crisis.

Against this backdrop, Israel’s deadly assault has killed at least 42,000 Palestinians over the last year and displaced most of Gaza’s population. Every semblance of decency and humanity has been violated with absolute impunity, despite well-documented war crimes, crimes against humanity and what the ICJ has ruled as a plausible case of genocide. Locally we have just seen the announcement that BAe Systems are opening up a new £25m armament factory in the North East of Sheffield to export more death and destruction around the world.

The same fossil fuel corporations driving the climate crisis and blocking a just transition are those funnelling Israel the oil it needs for its war machine: all to secure their profits. If we’re to have any hope of a liveable planet, we must divest from war and destruction – and invest in a just, ecological and equitable transition.

Speakers at the rally were Barnaby from the Climate Justice Coalition, Dima from Palestine Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, Fran from Better Buses South Yorkshire, Cllr Douglas Johnson from the Green Party, Lily from Cooperation Sheffield and myself representing Extinction Rebellion. 

At the rally, Barnaby explained what he meant by Climate Justice. “It means not simply demanding a future for us here in the UK, but demanding a future for all people. We are already seeing small island nations being destroyed by rising sea levels. If we simply think of it as what might happen to us in 10 or 15 years time we are doing ourselves a disservice. We need to start thinking of those further afield, not just close to home.”

Dima spoke for the Palestine Coalition against Israeli Apartheid.

Fran Postlethwaite spoke about the importance of completing the current consultation on our Bus Service, to demand public control of our buses.  See the guidance for completing the consultation here.

In my speech I said “This is the 29th COP I’ve followed. Each one has been a failure. Each one has resulted in increasing carbon emissions and increasing worldwide temperatures. They are packed full of lobbyists for the oil and gas industry who always manage to thwart decent proposals.  COP is now a barrier to any meaningful progress and should be urgently replaced with a Global Citizens Assembly.

It’s “virtually certain” that 2024 will be the world’s hottest on record, following 2023 which was the previous hottest year.

Global average temperatures for 2024 are on track to be more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, making 2024 the first calendar year to breach this significant mark.

1.5 degrees is what scientists have been warning us about. We are at a stage where we can expect tipping points to kick in, which could lead our climate to spiral out of control. We have heard the news that the land is no longer acting as a carbon sink so more of our emissions are being absorbed into the atmosphere. We could be on the verge of the shutdown of the AMOC, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. If this happens temperatures in this country will plummet while the rest of the world heats up considerably leading to crop failures and mass starvation. Or maybe the methane escaping from the melting tundra in the Arctic will be the first major tipping point. A giant methane burp would send temperatures rocketing across the planet. 

Politicians should be acting to avoid climate catastrophe. But in the global north, they are either extremely stupid because they deny the science, or extremely deceitful because they tell the public they care about climate change, and then do little to ameliorate it. We have Trump, Farage and Badenoch in the first camp and Starmer, Harris, Biden and most European leaders in the second. 

Keir Starmer has shown why he is not a climate leader at COP29. Strengthening targets is good, but meaningless without the policies that will meet those targets. Starmer says he won’t make changes that impact our lifestyles. But it’s impossible to tackle the climate and nature emergencies without significant changes, including less driving, eating less meat, insulating and retrofitting homes and flying far less. If he was a ‘leader’ he would explain that to the people, leading by making the necessary changes himself.

Starmer is making progress on Renewables but he is going in the wrong direction with his £22 billion investment in Carbon Capture and Storage which will prolong the life of the fossil fool companies. This should be invested in insulation, keeping homes warm and reducing the need for heating. 

Mayor Oliver Coppard talks the climate talk but happily proposes blowing £138m on reopening Doncaster Airport when we know flying must be reduced  to tackle the climate emergency. That money should be invested in improving our public transport, so people choose to use bus, tram or train rather than driving a car. 

Karen spoke for Stand up to Racism explaining that climate refugees are going to be very much part of the discussion about the climate crisis. One way that we can stop the people smugglers is by providing safe routes for refugees.

Lilly spoke for Cooperation Sheffield.

To find out more this thread on Twitter shows how we are being lied to about the Paris Agreement and what goes on at COPs.

https://twitter.com/SteB777/status/1858482196329156766