{"id":162293,"date":"2022-11-14T09:57:15","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T13:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=162293"},"modified":"2022-11-14T09:57:15","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T13:57:15","slug":"cop27-climate-talks-do-heads-of-state-make-a-difference-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/cop27-climate-talks-do-heads-of-state-make-a-difference-there\/","title":{"rendered":"COP27 climate talks: Do heads of state make a difference there?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The first few days of any U.N. climate conference are dominated by a series of short speeches from heads of state from across the world. It\u2019s something of a paradox, at least on its face: These presidents, kings and prime ministers are each country\u2019s most prominent attendees, but the actual work of the talks ends up having little to do with the often-similar speeches given by the heads of state.<\/p>

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There is some variation, of course. This year, French President Emmanuel Macron\u00a0expressed<\/a>\u00a0support for various climate financing proposals, including suspension of debt for disaster-struck developing countries. That would represent a big shift in a\u00a0growing conversation<\/a>\u00a0about the spiral of debt that poorer countries will struggle to escape in a warming world.<\/p>\n

And in a two-day sprint that includes words from\u00a0everyone<\/a>\u00a0from the king of Jordan to the president of Kiribati, there are some from smaller countries and economies than France that still carry more weight in this particular discussion. For example, Gaston Browne is the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda (population 100,000, roughly that of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, metro area).<\/p>

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He spoke Tuesday morning on behalf of the\u00a0Alliance of Small Island States<\/a>, a coalition of 39 countries that are among the most vulnerable to climate change. Among other things, Browne called for a crackdown on the fossil fuel industry\u2019s continued monumental profits.<\/p>

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\u201cThe oil and gas industry continues to earn almost 3 billion United States dollars daily in profits,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is about time that these companies are made to pay a global carbon tax on their profits as a source of funding for loss and damage. \u2026 While they are profiting, the planet is burning.\u201d<\/p>\n

World leaders have intervened beyond just speeches during the first few days of the annual talks. Famously, when the highly anticipated COP15 meeting in Copenhagen was teetering on the edge of failure in 2009, President Barack Obama\u00a0traveled<\/a>\u00a0to Denmark on the conference\u2019s last official day. Through a series of meetings with other leaders including those of India, Brazil and South Africa, the admittedly disappointing Copenhagen Accord did emerge.<\/p>

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Beyond that sort of skin-of-the-teeth intervention, though, many remain unconvinced that the parade of presidents and prime ministers offers much to the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe COP has turned into a PR event, where leaders are giving beautiful speeches and announcing fancy commitments and targets, while behind the curtains governments of the Global North countries are still refusing to take any drastic climate action,\u201d said climate activist Greta Thunberg\u00a0during last year\u2019s COP26 in Glasgow<\/a>. \u201cChange is not going to come from inside there. That is not leadership.\u201d<\/p>

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The first few days of any U.N. climate conference are dominated by a series of short speeches from heads of state from across the world. 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