COP29 – The Human Component

Deputy Director Eliza Mayo, one of our representatives at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, shares her impressions from various human interactions at COP29.

Criticism of the value of the United Nations Climate Change Conference focuses on the lack of progress in negotiations on vital international issues such as just transition and finance mechanisms for international goals, on the influence of the petroleum lobby and other corporate interests, as well as the lack of sustainability of the event itself (participant flights, disposables at the food vendors, serving meat, etc.). Alongside these there are the hopes, dreams, and goals of people attending the COP, people who are pouring their energy into working for climate education, resilience, mitigation, working for humanity and our planet.

When I arrived at the COP, I started asking each person I met, on the bus, while waiting in line, etc., why they were at the COP and what they hoped to get out of it.

Here is a snapshot of some of their aspirations:

• Two women from an organization that trains youth from Hong Kong on global climate advocacy and influence, who participated directly in negotiations
  –> Goals for the COP: empower and educate their participants, advocate for climate mitigation, get the word out to their home constituency.
• Save Soil is a global movement aiming to address the soil crisis (they cite the statistic that 52% of soil worldwide is degraded). They promote policies on global, national, and local levels to improve soil health by increasing organic matter in agricultural soil. Per their website: “carbon stored in soil is 3X that in living plants, and 2X that in the atmosphere, which means soil is crucial for carbon sequestration.”
  –> Goals for the COP: spread as wide a net as possible, continue and strengthen their UN connections, influence as many countries and localities as possible to work on soil quality and regenerative agriculture.
• A woman from Tajikistan who works for an international network of national trade networks for small businesses. She brought small business representatives from her country (and other countries) to the COP. These are mostly agricultural and/or cottage businesses and trades.
  –> Goals for the COP: to expose small business owners to the global stage and elevate their message to wider audiences.
• Three very passionate young adults from the Nuclear Youth Council, which aims to advance dialogue on more diverse means, to achieve just transition, and debunk what in their opinion are false fears of nuclear energy.
  –> Goals for the COP: to empower youth, engage in dialogue for including nuclear in climate solutions and action advocacy and work.
• Someone working for a UN sub-fund/group that advocates for greater climate funding for education and advocating for more attention to the interface between climate, conflict, and education. When there are climate and conflict issues in a region, education is directly harmed. They advocate for climate education but mostly education generally, which can be either a victim of climate damage and conflict, or an agent for climate resilience.
  –> Goals for the COP: They held events on Monday the 18th which was the education theme day, hoping to promote more attention and funding for education.
• A representative of an international network of labor unions. There is not a lot of labor representation at the COP. They have participants from Washington DC and Nigeria at this conference.
  –> Goals for the COP: meeting labor unionists from all over the world who are concerned with climate change; advancing a pro-workers / pro-union agenda in planning for just transitioning from fossil fuels.
• A woman from the Oceans Pavilion who does research on carbon sequestration in oceans.
  –> Goals for the COP: to make research connections, meet colleagues, and advance the message via their pavilion that the ocean matters in climate action and that “science must lead the way” in climate solutions.
• A man from an Indian student climate organization that works on a wide range of topics from local to global.
  –> Goals for the COP: He was particularly concerned with finance mechanisms and streamlining them.
• A Hungarian ‘party’ negotiator (represents Hungary in the COP negotiations). She feels their government is very green and has good climate policies which she supports. She was very positive about the outcome of negotiations last year in Dubai at COP28 in which 198 countries agreed about phrasing of “transitioning away from fossil fuels.” Even though this may sound like just a phrase, she felt the full international agreement was a major accomplishment.
  –> Goals for the COP: She feels that you cannot have at every COP large accomplishments like those in Dubai, and expects smaller more incremental accomplishments at Baku. She negotiates on finance which she described as an ‘incredibly complex’ issue. She is pretty sure they will have to stay another 1-2 days after COP is officially over to get to any results at all.
• An International Labor Organization (ILO) representative spoke to me about the fragility and the fraught nature of dialogue between labor and climate interests.
  Goals for the COP: ILO work on goals for just transitioning that balances these interests be the standard for UN work, and for country NDC plans (climate goals for the UN). They follow negotiations closely on loss & damage and its effects on workers’ rights, as well as on just transition.

• A man who stands outside the COP every year with a quote promoting veganism.
  –> Goal for the COP: He says he’s moved on to advocating against plastics to promote his agenda. He believes that engaging with delegates in this way can influence positions and actions.