Tina Landis is the author of the book Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism.
As the COP29 (“Conference of the Parties”) UN climate conference closed this past weekend, humanity was once again left with a very uncertain future as the wealthiest countries refused to be held accountable. Current commitments outlined in the UN Emissions Gap Report, released in advance of the conference, have us on track to reach a 2.6 to 3.1 C increase above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century, which would be devastating for the majority of life on Earth.
Early next year, countries must submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ahead of the 2025 COP. Hundreds of international scientists, whose research informs the Emissions Gap Report, urged that a 42% cut in greenhouse gas emissions is needed by 2030, and a 57% cut by 2035 to keep us below the 1.5°C increase globally. The report stressed that it is technically feasible for the world to keep to 1.5 C warming through rapid emissions cuts with ramped up solar and wind energy systems and mass reforestation projects that would aid in cooling the climate. Emissions Gap Report 2024 | UNEP – UN Environment Programme
Every year humanity is coming closer and closer to the point of no return. Each passing year breaks temperature records with 2024 expected to exceed 2023 as the hottest on record. The Global Carbon Budget, also released in advance of COP29, warned that our time has almost run out to keep below 1.5 C warming, which would stem the worst climate impacts, particularly for island nations and coastal communities. The report shows we are actually going in the opposite direction with an increase in fossil fuel emissions for 2024, up by .08% from 2023. Global Carbon Budget | Fossil fuel CO<sub>2</sub> emissions increase again in 2024
The United States is one of the biggest contributors to the problem with record-setting crude oil production for the last six years in a row and an 81% increase in carbon emissions from its liquified natural gas facilities since 2019. Not only does the Global North bear the majority of responsibility for causing climate change with the largest share of cumulative emissions since industrialization, stemming mainly from the United States and EU, but they also hold the majority of the world’s wealth that could be utilized to solve the crisis.
COP29 went into overtime on Saturday with contentious negotiations on funding triggering a walkout by The Least Developed Countries bloc and Alliance Of Small Island States. Dubbed the “finance COP,” this year’s 2-week long global conference was tasked with actualizing the financial mechanism to support Global South countries as they struggle to develop while being battered by severe climate impacts, which they didn’t create.
The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) finance deal struck in the final hours of the conference – in theory – will provide $300 billion annually for developing countries by 2035, despite expert economists stating that $1.3 trillion annually is needed. The NCQC will replace the existing agreement of $100 billion annually paid by wealthy nations that will expire in 2025. This fund is essentially a form of reparations for the colonial and imperialist domination of the Global South to be paid by Western countries for their plunder of the planet that has driven us to climate crisis.
According to the UN, much more is needed. At least $2.4 trillion annually needs to go toward meeting the emissions reduction targets set in the 2015 Paris agreement just to keep us below the more disastrous 2 C warming scenario. Between 2015 and 2020, wealthy Western countries actually only contributed $164 billion toward their $100 billion annual pledge that was agreed upon 15 years ago at the Copenhagen COP.
Even this paltry amount paid into climate financing programs only further enriches the Global North. While some funding comes through grants, 80% is in the form of loans, often at high interest, that also require developing countries to purchase goods and services from the loaning country, meaning significantly higher costs for projects for already debt-strapped countries and billions of dollars siphoned back to the wealthiest countries.
These funds are meant to support developing nations with adaptation measures, compensation for loss and damage from extreme weather and to transition energy systems off fossil fuels. But loan repayments limit developing countries from actually implementing the climate solutions that the funds were meant to cover, while more extreme weather events add to the ongoing debt trap for the countries impacted most severely by climate change.
Andres Mogro, former climate negotiator for the G77 bloc of developing nations and Ecuador’s former national director for climate change adaptation, stated that countries of “the global south are experiencing a new wave of debt caused by climate finance,” and that these finance mechanisms are “like setting a building on fire and then selling the fire extinguishers outside.” Rich nations are earning billions from a pledge to help fix climate
In response to the deal coming out of COP29, Aparna Roy, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation stated, “While CoP29 made some progress on acknowledging the urgency of reducing emissions, there was inadequate accountability for the historic carbon footprint of industrialized nations,” she said. “The world can no longer afford for wealthier nations to pay lip service to climate solidarity while avoiding real, transformative action.” The Global South is furious after the West leaves it holding the bill for climate change — RT India
Always absent in the COP negotiations is an acknowledgement of the role of capitalism and imperialism as, not only the cause of the climate crisis, but the ongoing barrier to the transformations needed for humanity’s survival. The requirement under capitalism of endless growth, endless expansion of markets – which inevitably leads to imperialism – remains at odds with policies based on internationalism and global cooperation that are needed to solve the climate crisis. The capitalists who control the system won’t save us. To truly solve climate change, we need a socialist system that can pool the resources and labor of humanity globally to heal the planet and bring sustainable development for all.
How can these negotiations on climate change be taken seriously when the United States and their imperialist partners fund a genocide in Palestine and drive us closer and closer to the brink of WWIII with escalating threats toward Russia and China? The people of the world want peace, stability and cooperation, but the West is refusing to evolve and accept that their days at the helm of a unipolar world order are dwindling.
The longer we wait to make the transformational shifts in our relationship with the planet, the harder it will be and the less likely we will succeed in rebalancing the systems that sustain human life. We see the ineffectiveness of the UN at stopping the genocide in Gaza despite all but two countries – the U.S. and Israel – wanting an immediate ceasefire. The same is true for the power of the UN at the COPs, which have no enforcement mechanism to ensure that countries actually follow through on their commitments.
Which is why we need to take matters into our own hands. To solve the climate crisis will take all our efforts, but collectively we know what needs to happen. The solutions exist and we have enough skilled scientists, ecologists, engineers and all the other workers needed to make it happen. Only a handful of the super rich who refuse to give up control over the wealth of society stand in our way. It will take a sustained mass people’s movement to win the world that we need for our survival. And it won’t be easy, but that better world is still possible. Humanity’s demise will surely come if we collectively continue to give away our power to the ruling elite and our so-called “leaders” in government. We, the people organized, is where the hope lies.
