Climate Justice

… the current system is inadequate to address the multiple crises we are facing.

This fall, ORCIE followed with attention the meetings and negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty, the Global Biodiversity Framework and the COP29 Climate Change Convention. Despite positive outcomes, what did not happen at these international meetings put the implementation of these important accords at risk. When meetings end without an agreement, future negotiations are put to question. It is the same with the global financial system, the business as usual approaches are not working.

Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCC) met in Baku, Azerbaijan for their 29th Conference, this time to focus on climate finance and to determine the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) to meet the needs of developing countries, and set the foundations for climate justice and action for the next decade. When we talk about ‘climate finance’ we mean local, national or transnational financing —drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing—that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change. Frustratingly, the climate needs of the Global South are in the trillions and the COP29 decision on NCQG only set a goal of $300 billion USD per year, by 2035.

Disappointed with quantity ($) in commitments we expected to see improvements in quality, but this modest increase also missed the target of redirecting public finance into grants and non-debt creating instruments, and makes no distinction between mitigation, adaptation and the third pillar to climate finance – loss and damage. The scaling up of climate finance is about the Global North contributing its fair share and to have this shameful result after three years of COP negotiations shows how clearly the needs and priorities of developing countries are being dismissed. The finance conversations cannot end in Baku but must be moved forward with action on multiple levels and include reforming international finance architecture and addressing the debt crisis.

Meanwhile, how do we articulate the growing need for these multilateral processes? We must get back to the focus on a just transition for workers, and skip the UN conference tourism, the fossil fuel lobbyists and the elected leaders flying in for a day instead of truly participating in a process. We must commit to a successful process because, while flawed, civil society and countries of the Global South are able to participate in the UNFCCC, compared to other international institutions or spaces (like the World Bank) that are playing a reinforcing role for the Global North.

It is clear the current international financial system is inadequate to address the multiple crises we are facing: climate and ecological justice with growing poverty and inequalities worldwide. Yet, finance is central to development and climate action. COP29 should have been about new and additional public grants-based climate finance that is adequate, predictable, needs-based, rights-responsive and most of all provided by developed countries to fulfill their obligations under the Paris Agreement. Building political will and public pressure will be crucial to ensure the next negotiations don’t fall apart and multilateral spaces are strengthened so we can get back to work.

Pope Francis challenges us to see climate action as a means to strengthen democracy and to renew, recreate and reconfigure multilateral processes. Let’s pray and work for an increase in a ‘multilateralism from below’ in 2025. It may be the only thing we have to save the UN conferences.

Genevieve Gallant was a virtual delegate to COP28, the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, from Nov 30-Dec 12, 2023.

In political speak – COP28 was a complex event that showcased both the progress and the challenges inherent in global climate negotiations. The summit also underscored the need for greater ambition and a more robust response to the influence of big polluters.

What COP28 delivered:

• A political signal that the fossil fuel era needs to end and that the world will have to transition away from fossil energies.
• A clear indication of the time-frames: this needs to happen in this critical decade and must achieve net zero emissions globally by 2050.

A few highlights:

• It was a very big deal to have the decision text include specific wording about the transition away from fossil fuels. Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are by far the largest contributor to global climate change.
• Explicitly naming the need for the phaseout of fossil fuels forces the world to recognize we are at the end of an era. COP28 gave us a clear indication of the timeframes: this needs to happen in this critical decade and must achieve net zero emissions globally by 2050. Is it enough? Let’s work on limiting the qualifiers and loopholes that allow for ongoing expansion of coal, oil and gas projects.  
• Globally and in Canada fossil fuel production is up. Fossil fuel extraction and burning are also associated with many converging and localized social, economic, and environmental harms that are rarely accounted for in climate mitigation scenarios. This is what we mean when we need to focus on an integral ecology approach, where we consider the full range of consequences and address them in our response. 
• Courage is contagious. During the summit 4 countries joined the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, including Colombia!  Globally and in Canada, between the provinces like Alberta and B.C., an equitable transition away from fossil fuel production must recognize differentiated responsibilities and capabilities.  
• Up next is the hot button issue of finance, postponed to COP29 for the adoption of a new climate finance goal (NCQC). This new goal will replace developed countries’ current commitment of providing $100 billion annually in climate finance to developing nations, first agreed to in 2009. The new goal will need to take into account developing countries’ needs and priorities, estimated at $5.8 trillion – $5.9 trillion up until 2030.

THE DISCONNECT

No fossil fuel company or country has a real plan for phasing out fossil fuels. Almost all expect to continue extracting coal, oil and gas far into the future — far beyond what is needed to cut emissions in line with climate goals of keeping global warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius. Almost every country and company sees itself in a unique position, as the future last producer of fossil fuels, with unique reasons – ex: ‘we are the cleanest’, ‘we have the best carbon offset’, ‘we are not ‘them”. As a result, countries, including Canada, are rushing to gain the upper hand and share of the profits before the world turns toward renewables.

THERE IS ANOTHER WAY

Oil and gas is being extracted thanks to the social license, the informal contract between the public, private organizations, and the government that starts with public acceptance and is based on our trust in the legitimacy, credibility, effectiveness, and fairness of the project.

There’s a rush to produce oil and gas while we will still allow it. Will we allow it? As we move towards eliminating fossil fuels, faith-based organizations who can speak to these moral questions become central.

MULTILATERALISM FROM BELOW

Pope Francis calls us to reconfigure and recreate the old multilateralism, and to recognize that it is the civil society groups, like ORCIE, that help to compensate for the shortcomings of the international community and its lack of attention to fundamental human rights. 

The demands that rise up from below throughout the world, where activists from very different countries help and support one another, can end up pressuring the sources of power. For this reason, I reiterate that “unless citizens control political power – national, regional and municipal – it will not be possible to control damage to the environment. Pope Francis in Laudate Deum