COP 28: profits above all else

« The last few decades have shown that a large proportion of voluntary commitments have had no effect« . This is the initial assessment made by Le Monde (3 December) on the fifth day of COP 28, as the speeches by the official representatives drew to a close and negotiations began on a final agreement scheduled for 12 December. In other words, this 28^th edition of the COP is heading the same way as the previous ones. 

Initially, this conference was supposed to implement the Paris Agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the main culprits of which are known to be the production, distribution and consumption of fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil). COP 28 is being held in the United Arab Emirates, the world’s 8th largest oil producer. What is more, it is being chaired by the CEO of ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company), which holds the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves. One might as well have a drug baron chairing a conference on the dealing of cocaine! It is evident that the major oil and gas producers are in the driver’s seat, and that is no novelty. An article published on the France Info website ⁽¹⁾ points out that, « for twenty-six years, oil producing countries have managed to prevent fossil fuels from being explicitly mentioned in the texts adopted at the end of the COPs, even though they are the main cause of global warming« . Year after year, representatives of the oil and gas sector have been increasingly present at the COPs to weigh in on the debates. Accor ding to Novethic (an NGO), their influence has grown from 636 representatives at COP 27 to 2,456 at COP 28! The stakes are high: since the issue of fossil fuels can not be avoided at COP 28, it will be necessary to make an “environment-friendly” case for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, or even limiting the use of fossil fuels… while preserving the core of the profit-making machine. This discourse is simply that imposed by the main capitalist power: the United States. In 2022, Biden pushed through the Inflation Reduction Act, a plan to pro vide $500-billion worth of subsidies, loans and tax cuts designed to establish the US as a world leader in decarbonation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions… all within a con trolled framework, that of defending the general interests of capitalism and the more specific interests of the United States. Indeed, the “philosophy” of this plan is not to move away from gas and oil, but to reduce CO₂ emissions without reducing the use of hydrocarbons. It is even about promoting gas as a replacement for coal. When Macron spoke at COP 28, he echoed this speech, sidestepping the question of hydrocarbons and calling on the G7 countries to phase out coal by 2030 in order to « set an example“ for ”emerging countries« , particularly China.

So what can be expected from this COP? Who can believe in the willingness and ability of the states which attend this conference – a motley aggregate of dictatorships and “democracies” committed to defending capitalist interests and ever-increasing war and arms budgets – to save the planet from climate disruption? Who can possibly believe this, right after this COP, controlled by the well-understood interests of the oil and gas multinationals, first and foremost those of the United States? ■ Pierre Cise

⁽¹⁾« How the oil-producing countries are  working behind the scenes to torpedo the  climate negotiations » – December 2023).

Glossary 

COP (Conference of the Par ties) on climate change: since 1995, this annual conference has brought together representatives of the countries that signed the 1992 Rio agreements. Its aim is to set global climate objectives, in particular targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Rio Agreements: agreements signed in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) at the UN « Earth Summit » on sustainable development, bio diversity, forest management and global warming. On this last point, the agreement defined the frame work for the discussions that led to the Kyoto Protocol. 

Kyoto Protocol: agreement signed in 1997 in the Japanese city of Kyoto at COP3. Under this agreement, so-called developed countries were required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5% below 1990 levels over the 2008-2012 period. Paris Agreement: signed in 2015 at COP21, the aim of this agreement is to keep the increase in the average temperature of the planet below 2°C compared with pre-industrial levels and, preferably, to limit the increase to 1.5°C. This time, the objective is set for all countries, whether « developed » or « developing ».