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Imagine you have a life-threatening disease. All available scientific tests indicate a clear diagnosis and a fatal prognosis. But when you go to the doctor, he does not directly mention the disease. After a few quick pleasantries, they shake your hand and ask you to make a follow-up appointment in 12 months.
None of us would consider this an acceptable standard healthcareand yet this is precisely the approach we take to the Earth's climate. Summits of the UN Conference of the Parties (COP), The 30th of them ended in Belem.Late last week, Brazil undeniably made important progress in the fight against climate change, led by the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit warming to below 1.5°C. Although this goal has largely failed, we are certainly on track to achieve much less warming than would have been the case without it.
But it is also clear that the COP process is no longer fit for purpose. As we report on page 6, COP30 ended without even mentioning fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change, in its final agreement. Despite more than 80 countries calling for a roadmap for the “fossil fuel transition” (a phrase that appeared in the COP28 agreement signed in Dubai in 2023), oil states, including former COP host Saudi Arabia, have tried to block any such agreement. Since COP requires consensus, we have no choice but to promise more negotiations at COP31 in Turkey next year.
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Countries committed to combating climate change must focus their power on solar energy and batteries.
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This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue, but reforming the COP process will not be an easy task. Instead, if the case for ending the fossil fuel era cannot be made through science or politics, then we must turn to technology and economics.
Countries committed to combating climate change must do their best to support solar energy and batteriesflooding the world with cheap energy that will displace oil and gas. Countries that want to live in the future can impose economic sanctions on those who apparently don't care. No matter what we do, a simple “see you next year” is no longer a viable option.
