The annual global gathering of countries trying to forge collective action in addressing the climate crisis risks becoming “an irrelevancy” because of persistent failure to turn promises into action, according to Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora Colm Brophy.
Speaking at the latest UN “conference of the parties” – Cop27 in Egypt – Mr Brophy said his view was “overwhelmingly influenced” by what he experienced in the Horn of Africa recently.
“There is something about standing watching a mother, knowing that her child could be dead [from starvation] within 36 hours, within 48 hours; talking to a community who are literally on the verge of being wiped out, not enough being done by the developed world at all – and realising what’s happening in the Horn of Africa is entirely climate-related; a man-made catastrophe,” he added.
“And there are aspects, therefore, when you come to Cop – for me – that I just found really unacceptable. I think it’s on the verge of turning itself, if it’s not careful, into an irrelevancy,” Mr Brophy said at a media briefing.
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This was because of inaction by developed countries at the highest level of Cops, he said. “So countries like Ireland are coming in and playing a huge part, the developing countries are coming in and making a huge case. But at the very top level, there still seems to be a lack of a willingness to implement.
‘Definition of madness’
“So we’re on the verge of having a situation where there’s more promises and good intentions made in the two weeks of Cop than are made in first two weeks in January – and they’re forgotten just as quick. And the definition of madness is repeating the same thing again and again and again. We’re on Cop27.”
“The spirit of Paris, as far as I’m concerned, is nearly dead and buried,” he said – a reference to the landmark climate agreement reached at Cop15. While US climate envoy John Kerry had said no one country had the trillions of dollars needed, “there is enough collectively if the world is willing to act”, he said.
“When you see the fact that because of what we’ve failed to do so far, we’re facing a catastrophe right across the Horn of Africa and other parts of Africa. We’re facing what’s actually happened, not what will happen.”
There was a lack of realisation, he said, by the developed world, even if they were to view it on a selfish level, of impacts facing their countries.
On migration alone, within two decades they could be looking at large swathes of Africa in particular, but also other parts of the world, that are no-go zones for people effectively unable to live there and have a sustainable future, Mr Brophy said.
He noted countries were bidding for Cops in two and three years’ time, “and yet you wonder, as it currently stands without a change, whether or not you’ll see the same set of promises being reworked again”.
‘Utter failure’
While there was inevitable focus on Ukraine war, if the world’s cameras turned up in the Horn of Africa for “the Bob Geldof moment”, it would represent “complete and utter failure”, he believed.
Emergency work was entirely necessary but also adaptation had to be done to sustain communities in the long term to ensure food system security. This was the approach of Ireland, which it hoped would receive increased backing from fellow EU countries.
There was a necessity to make Cops work; “nobody wants it to be a jamboree”.
They should mean “50 weeks follow-up to the two weeks here”, Mr Brophy said. Most people including himself want to see Cops work effectively and not see countries pushed out.
The Horn of Africa could be an indicator of what potentially could happen in 40 years’ time to other parts of the world, he warned.
At a briefing on negotiations, Eddy Pérez of Climate Action Network hit out at “600 polluters in the Cop” in the form of fossil fuel lobbyists, some of whom were participating in negotiations and pushing “expensive technical solutions” that would delay urgent action.
A loss and damage fund was needed, rather than “cheap offers” looking forward to “proceeding” outcomes, he said. Being an African Cop, it needed scaling-up of adaptation funds to build resilience in vulnerable countries “but we are still really far from there”, he added.
Climate activist Mohammed Adow of Power Shift Africa said tangible outcomes were needed for Africa in the form of doubling adaptation finance and establishing a loss and damage facility “but on each of these issues the developed world is shirking their responsibilities”.
