By Varsha Yajman (she/her)
Content warning: mentions of mental ill health, abortion
The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP29, began on Monday, 11 Nov 2024 and is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In previous years, COP was definitely on the mainstream agenda; we’d see videos of activists lobbying the CEOs of coal mining executives and, of course, Greta Thunberg’s iconic line that our politicians simply 'blah blah blah'.
So why isn’t it making headlines in the same way?
Is it because climate action has slipped down the list of priorities? Or is it because we don’t trust forums like COP anymore?
Realistically, it’s probably a bit of both.
Many of us are currently sitting in question and fear about what the next four years of the Trump administration will look like and the genocide that sees Palestinians fighting for their lives.
And when we've had 29 years of COP resulting in only minimal climate action, I can see why we wouldn’t trust these spaces.
In 2019, I was one of the School Strike 4 Climate organisers. Alongside several environmental groups, we mobilised over 350,000 people across Australia to call on our government to take decisive action to address the climate crisis.
Climate change seemed like an issue everyone took seriously. When we saw the black summer bushfires of 2019 to 2020, more people engaged, protested, and sent letters to their local members of parliament.
Four years later, nothing even close to that size has happened. The government has continued to approve coal mines, and it seems that non-profit organisations with limited funding can't stop the government.
Do we need another black summer for people to show up? And are spaces like COP even worth considering as a place for climate justice anymore?
COP29 saw a reduction of attendees by 15,000 to 70,000.
500 carbon capture lobbyists are attending COP29, a record-breaking number. Carbon capture storage, also known as CCS, is where CO2 emissions created in producing steel and cement or when burning fossil fuels in power generation are captured. The captured CO2 is transported by ship or pipeline and stored deep underground in geological formations.
According to several experts and international bodies, such as the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, 'CCS is an expensive and unproven technology.' Solutions like CCS shift the conversation focus from moving to renewables and decarbonising to governments and companies using phrases like 'clean coal', two words which do not belong together.
Of course, almost 1,773 coal, oil, and gas lobbyists are in attendance at this year’s COP.
In a Guardian Article, Rachel Kennerle, a Center for International Environmental campaigner, stated, 'We are witnessing fossil-fuel greenwashing by those attempting to delay the inevitable fossil fuels phase-out.'
Alongside these issues, Azerbaijan, the country hosting COP, has been accused of using COP29 to crack down on environmental activists. This is the third year in a row that the host country has been accused of this. In fact, Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, told the COP29 climate conference that oil and gas are a 'gift of God.'
When COP is held in countries like the UK, Germany, or Poland, the Western world pays a bit more attention to it. The reduction in Western coverage may in part be due to the host nation's perceived lack of relevance to Westerners. Max Bearak’s reporting on COP29 in the New York Times provides greater insight into this, noting that Azerbaijan has an autocratic government whose economy relies almost entirely on fossil fuels.
While COP is held in a different part of the world each year, Bearak notes that while COP29 was scheduled to be in an Eastern European group, Russia’s blocking of every country that condemned its invasion of Ukraine, the only countries left were Armenia and Azerbaijan. The decision between one of these two countries, both of which are at war with each other, was made by Russia.
Given all of this, it’s unsurprising that discussions around COP29 have stalled. However, this doesn’t mean we can stop pressuring our government to make meaningful climate policy.
While we are burdened with issues like the cost of living crisis, abortion rights being up in the air, and genocide right before our eyes, climate change affects every one of these issues.
The fires, floods, and extreme heat we face affect every facet of our lives and, particularly, those who are marginalised or on the front lines of the climate crisis.
Climate change limits our access to health care including abortion with heat waves and floods making resources more difficult to access. There has been a rise of eco-anxiety as well, with a survey in 2022 finding nearly 19,000 young Australians aged 15 to 19 found teenagers feel ‘helpless’ and ‘anxiety-ridden’ about the future. So it is clear that climate change affects our physical and mental health.
Climate change affects our supply chain and electricity and gas prices, increasing the cost of living.
A 2024 study found the first months of the genocide in Gaza produced more planet-warming gases than 20 climate-vulnerable nations do in a year. In addition to the thousands of civilian lives tragically lost, many more will continue to be impacted by the social and environmental consequences of war.
So, while forums like COP are losing their legitimacy and capacity to change (if they ever really made such a change), it doesn’t mean climate change can be any lower on the agenda.
Given that one of the biggest powers in the world is now under a climate crisis denier (Donald Trump), we must call on Australia to have a strong climate policy. This federal election needs to be the time for change.
So, how do we get back to where we were in 2019?
The federal election is scheduled to be in April or May 2025, which is our time to shine. This is what getting back into things can look like for you;
Campaigning for independents and parties that prioritise climate justice is incredibly important.
A conversation about climate change - this may seem simple, but small conversations are key to making this a 'hot topic' again.
Look beyond the global North; what does climate justice actually mean - a quick google search can tell us about the stories and impacts of climate change in the global south.
Recognising that the climate crisis intersects with other areas such as cost of living and healthcare, and having an intersectional approach to activism in these areas
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