Ten years have passed since the Paris Agreement, the treaty signed by the member states of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Ten years since historic commitments were made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. It was December 12, 2015, and the world was taking great, enthusiastic strides toward a sustainable economic model through a global action plan that set out to achieve 17 interconnected goals by 2030—the so-called Agenda 2030 goals—to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity, peace, and partnership for all.
Since then, we have been through a global pandemic, we are in the midst of conflicts that are generating growing geopolitical tensions and, last but not least, climate denialism and skepticism about the commitments made are on the rise, thanks in large part to Donald Trump's return to the White House.
So COP 30 (the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, currently taking place in Belém, Brazil) is finding itself having to deal with a context that is anything but favorable to any agreement that is little more than ambitious. Talking about climate change in the heart of the Amazon (with its crucial role in regulating the global climate and therefore a location chosen by Brazilian President Lula as a warning) is apparently not enough.
Even the alarming figures contained in the reports presented in recent days, which tell of rising temperatures, melting glaciers, droughts, extreme weather events, and loss of biodiversity, do not seem to be enough. But also, as reported by the daily newspaper La Repubblica, of the “social and economic consequences that increase global poverty levels, affecting, as usual, the most vulnerable populations with food insecurity, subsistence farming, and forced migration.”
COP 30 will close on Friday, November 21, and there is very little hope for decisions to be made. To be clear: the biggest polluters did not attend the summit. The heads of state of the United States, India, and China did not show up. Together, these three countries produce roughly half of global emissions. Add to this the role of Europe, which, after setting in motion (perhaps) drastic policies, has had second thoughts, stopping or postponing its decisions. In recent days, it has committed to a 90 percent reduction in emissions by 2040, but at the same time it is having to deal with states that, according to Repubblica, “are relaxing legislative mechanisms, with the result of making every measure less effective.”
