COP24, Katowice, Poland – This is my fourth COP. My first was COP21 in Paris where the
international agreements to address climate change finally formalized. People came away energized and feeling that
as countries submitted their plans for climate solutions, we’d truly be on a
right path to resolving the climate crisis.
By my third COP in Bonn, Germany last year, there was a wide
recognition that all the country commitments were not enough to avoid
catastrophic climate change, but there was hope that countries would start to
move more aggressively to curtail fossil fuel use and other greenhouse gas
contributors.
The scientists are telling us that we should limit earth
temperature increases to 1.5 degrees centigrade and that if it goes above 2
degrees, our troubles will escalate rapidly.
Even if we limit our temperature increases, we’ll still see many
impacts, including sea level rise, more extreme weather events, drought and
health impacts. At higher levels, the habitability
of large areas of our planet will come into question.
The sense of urgency is clearly prevalent at COP24, but so
is a sense that many governments are saying the right things at these sessions,
then failing to make the changes necessary to curtail fossil fuels quickly
enough.
Most countries agree there is a problem and are increasing
renewable energy. But many countries
are then continuing to use or even
expand the use of coal and other fossil fuels.
Not enough governments are providing the needed climate leadership and
some such as the US national government are overtly backsliding in climate
commitments.
Sir David Attenborough, still strong in his environmental
voice at 92 years, told the gathered heads of governments and others, “Leaders of the world you must lead. If we don’t take
action the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the
natural world is on the horizon.”
Leading means more than talking, said Dr. Gale Tracy Christiane Rigobert, Saint Lucian Minister for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development at an event I attended today. We need to be sure these “events as ‘talkshops’ will end with COP24,” she said.
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| Michael Paparian with St. Lucia Minister Rigobert |
Though Poland is hosting COP24, the government is among those that cling to archaic energy sources. New coal projects are still proposed, even though many workers in the coal industry are pushing for a faster transition to clean energy jobs.
What should come out of this COP to get us on the right path?
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| Michael Paparian with Manuel Pulgar-Vidal |
Mr. Pulgar-Vidal, along with many others, are saying that the
existing system of country promises isn’t enough and that there needs to be a
clearer set of rules for how countries evaluate their emissions and commit to
solutions. There is some hope that a
framework for these rules will emerge during COP24, to be finalized in time for
renewed country commitments and actions by 2020.
We’ll see in the next few days if an action path is agreed to by
the gathered governments (absent the commitment of the current US national
government, of course).
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| Arnold Schwarzenegger at COP24 (photo by Michael Paparian) |
One individual offered himself as an action example. Former California Governer Arnold
Schwarzenegger said, “Nobody is better at action than I am because I make
action movies .. but this is the real world.”
Let’s hope that the real world and real leaders take the real
action steps we need.
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