- Posted on December 2nd, 2024
COP29: Wrecking Balls and Reasons to be Cheerful
Julies Bicycle Founder and Co-Director, Alison Tickell, reflects on the highs and lows of COP29 after her return from the Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan – she tells us why there are still reasons to be cheerful.
Every time I go to the COP climate talks I’m reminded that, in spite of distressing failures, I am in (mainly) good company. COP delegates are (mainly) good people who are up close and personal to the climate and nature crisis. With gritty determination in the trickiest of contexts, they show up: scientists sweating out their data, UN officials their pragmatism, diplomats stretched to their limits by national v/s international, short v/s long, economy v/s ecology, and so on.
And us, everyone else who comes to ground the negotiations in the intimate realities of communities all over the world. It always moves me.
But COP29 in Baku will be remembered for its failings in spite of all our best efforts and preparedness for compromise. There are bad actors with big wrecking balls – plenty of them. It started badly, and by the second week just keeping the previous COP commitments became the goal as finance ambition receded. Even this was hard: reaffirming the commitment to phasing out fossil fuels was lost, and although the ignominy of no finance deal was avoided the inadequacy of the settlement has caused consternation. This leaves COP30 in Brazil with a lot to sort out. It is the COP process itself, specifically the Paris Climate Agreement, that is bearing the burden of rapid geopolitical shifts and fading faith in multilateral consensus. Restoring trust and integrity alongside the 1.5 trajectory is more important than ever. And with Trump coming in the wrecking ball just got bigger.
For comprehensive coverage of COP29 outcomes (and anecdotes) see HERE, WRI goes into the finance deal in depth HERE, and a shorter editorial from Guardian climate and COP veteran Fiona Harvey HERE.
There were some reasons to be cheerful: young people, organised, eloquent and efficient, the Artivist Networks’ playful, powerful protests in the halls, the colours in the Brazilian pavilion, sanctuary in Uzbekistan, the sweets in China.
And Ed Miliband (yes, I am a Milifan) striding across the floors looking tired but always ready with passing smiles. His alliance with Ana Toni and the Brazilian delegates was heartening, a visible demonstration of personal conviction that the climate crisis matters, and professional commitment to restoring some of the UK’s lost leadership before COP30.
He announced a world-first; to embed the voices of youth into the UK’s Nationally Determined Contributions. It’s a great precedent for culture. In fact, the way that young people have organised globally has important learnings for us.
(And a shout out to the UK’s NDCs, committing to reducing economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels, as recommended by the Climate Change Committee, hooray).
But mostly what made me cheerful was being with the people who showed up for culture.
The last three weeks have been a painful reminder of just how disconnected policy can be from people. This is acute in the case of cultural policy. What we call the ‘culture gap’ is in fact a chasm, the cliff edge of climate change corroded by the persistent failure of culture and climate policy makers, to grab the lifeline and haul 1.5 onto steadier ground.
This is especially painful because COP28 in Dubai was good for us.
Here is a must-read editorial, written by brilliant lawyer and campaign strategist Andrew Potts, about our COP policy efforts to connect cultural heritage with resilience and adaptation, our industrial impacts with mitigation, and how our ideas, inspiration and imagination might help the cause. The Climate Heritage Network, led by Andrew, has been guiding this work with HRH Princess Dana Firas of Jordan, JB, Europa Nostra, Thiago Jesus and People’s Palace Projects, and a large network of culture and heritage people, for several years.
In brief, COP28 launched the first Group of Friends of Culture-Based Climate Action, a growing coalition of UNFCCC Member States and sector experts (including JB), who are building political momentum for culture and heritage-based climate action, co-chaired by Brazil and the UAE. The second Ministerial Meeting took place on 15 November this year.
Our long term goal is to build culture into the fabric of climate policy. Our immediate goal this year was a UNFCCC recommendation to hold a workshop at the midway point between COPs, the climate conference held every year in Bonn which sets the agenda for the next COP. We worked really hard for this, especially Princess Dana and Andrew who worked tirelessly and convincingly. But we didn’t get enough of the Ministers on the Group of Friends to recommend this to the UNFCCC. In short, we didn’t make it this time.
In hindsight perhaps we should have anticipated this and saved us from a sad final dinner together, because the signs of a low ambition COP were there, even before the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called oil ‘the gift from God’.
Just before COP the first G20 Culture Climate Seminar was organised by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture as an official event linked to Brazil’s Presidency. It was held in Salvador, the magnificent cultural capital of Brazil and the birthplace of two ministers of culture: Gilberto Gil and the current Minister, Margareth Menezes, who happens to be a sublime and widely popular singer; it’s a bit like having Raye as Secretary of State. Minister Menezes is also the co-chair, with the UAE, of the Group of Friends.
This 2 day event that I was genuinely honoured to speak at was hosted by Margareth Menezes before the G20 Culture Working Group ministerial negotiators got to work. Passionate speeches from her, Minister of Environment Marina Silva and Minister of Indigenous Affairs Sônia Guajajara championing culture for climate action at the opening Plenary felt like a true ‘At Last’ moment. It was an imprint event, and set a brilliant precedent for future Summits. Never-the-less, the alignment did not make it into the G20 Leader’s Statement.
For obvious reasons G20 priorities focused on climate ambition, finance and conflict. Against these issues culture might seem of lesser importance – and therein lies the problem. Culture is not properly understood and we, the culture community, have to work much harder to make the case. I have tried to do this so many times over the years that I don’t know if it makes sense any more, but I will try again and please, if you have suggestions, I will receive them with gratitude.
We didn’t get the mentions, nor the workshop request at COP this year, but we are closer. And not only to bridging the culture gap with culture-led policy that uses the creativity, imagination, hard-core experience, knowledge and skills that culture bearers carry in service to our shared planet. But it also brought us, in Baku and beyond, closer to one another. And therein lies our path. I have never felt common cause for culture at COP so powerfully, nor so connected to the culture crews that rock up to this strange event.
It reminded me of the importance of modelling what this looks like in how we work, not just in what we say. Because how we collaborate, model our commitments and celebrate each and every one of us determines the outcome. Holding one another up and championing others in common cause is the very essence of climate action.
In this spirit our campaign continues too.
JB, with all our friends and collaborators, is working on an international call to governments and the UN to put Culture at the Heart of Climate Action. We are building a big head of steam now, so that when COP30 in Brazil rolls round we will be there with thousands of voices from arts, culture and creative industries. We will take these into the negotiating halls, accompanied by the stories, the art, the designs and imaginaries for a world in tune with what matters: respect and care for our beloved home and all who live here. And what matters in the interim is that culture: artists, knowledge holders, cultural institutions, grassroots collectives, creative industries businesses – keep holding one another, showing up for and taking climate action in all the ways we know are happening every day.
Join us.
