COP climate talks are no longer fit for purpose and need to be reformed, according to a group of former leaders and climate experts.
These leaders and experts published a critical open letter mid-way through what has so far been a fractious summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Friday’s letter carrying signatures of 20 experts, said the COP process had achieved much, but now needed a fundamental overhaul.
“It is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose.”
The letter further said the current structure of COP simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale.
Prominent among those who signed the letter are former UNFCCC boss Christiana Figueres and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Nearly 200 countries have gathered in Azerbaijan with a primary goal of agreeing a new target.
The challenge is to figure out how much money needs to be provided to help developing countries adapt to climate change.
So far, those talks have made little progress.
Delegates struggled for hours on the opening day to agree an agenda.
Several factors have however soured the mood of participants.
These include doubts about the United States’ future role under a Donald Trump presidency and diplomatic spats involving the host nation.
The Argentinian delegation’s withdrawal has also upset participants.
Chritiana Figueres later said some of the ideas in the letter had been misinterpreted.
“The COP process is an essential and irreplaceable vehicle for supporting the multilateral, multi-sectoral, systemic change we urgently need. Now more than ever,” she said.
Nevertheless, others have also criticised the COP process in
Baku.
Earlier this week, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called for urgent reform.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke of leaders sitting on sofas and taking photographs while speeches at the summit played out on muted television screens.
COP29 Presidency’s Lead Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev said: “The process has already delivered … so far by reducing the projected warming, delivering finance to those in need – and it’s better than any alternative.”
He said that the multilateral process was under pressure and that COP29 would be “a litmus test for the global climate architecture.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
