Kian Mintz-Woo: Cop28 reveals tension and testy exchanges

Wed, 06 Dec, 2023 - 15:00

Kian Mintz-Woo

Tensions are evident at this year’s international climate conference, Cop28.

On Monday, the president and host of Cop28, Sultan al-Jaber, gave a surprise press conference to respond to reporting about a testy exchange he had with Mary Robinson. The exchange happened in November, but video of it surfaced from The Guardian this week.

Most of the tension has been about the substance of the disagreement — did the Sultan mean that phasing out fossil fuels was socially catastrophic or that it was not the goal of Cop28?

But less discussed is the tension of a man interrupting and talking patronisingly to a woman. She remained impressively composed as he insisted that she was not conducting a sober, rational discussion.

I expect a lot of Irish women would find the situation more than a little familiar — and it’s even more shocking since she’s an elder leader and one of the most popular living Irish political figures.

But where do they disagree? Both agree that funding for developing countries is crucial.

Indeed, I was pleased to see on the first day of Cop28 that many countries promised to contribute to a Loss and Damage Fund.

Loss and damage refers to efforts to tackle the impacts of climate change that we cannot adapt to.

When the University College Cork (UCC) delegation I led met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, he was glad to point out that Ireland promised more for loss and damage than the US did.

At the very least, these contribute to returning some of the trust from developing countries that have been squandered in recent Cops.

But the real issue is whether Cop28 is about planning to end fossil fuel burning (“phase out”) or just about continuing planned reductions (“phase down”).

While I understand that the Sultan is trying to be what he thinks is pragmatic, I think his ties to the oil and gas industries generate a tension that just cannot be ignored.

Mary Robinson is right that the threat of climate change threatens societal stability and so requires radical action with the right incentives like carbon prices.

And she is right that phasing out sets a more ambitious trajectory that would get us closer to a safe world.

But this is a tension that is not easy to dissolve. It requires many of us to work together, whether as individuals or organisations, to see what we can achieve.