Environmental Chess

World leaders, diplomats, and environmentalists first convened the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Berlin, Germany in 1995.

Since then, at these annual meetings referred to as the Conference of the Parties, or COP, leaders often have mediated the distribution of wealth from industrialized countries: That means nations that have powered their economies for years with carbon-emitting fossil fuels, transferring funds to developing nations that are now attempting to grow sustainably and say they are feeling the brunt of climate change.

Recently, for instance, at the COP29 in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, attendees initially agreed that the most vulnerable countries need $1.3 trillion annually to prepare for rising sea levels, more intense storms, longer droughts, and other climate change-related crises, Euronews wrote. But ultimately the rich countries agreed to fork out only $300 billion.

Representatives from developing countries were outraged. “I regret to say that this document is nothing more than an optical illusion,” Indian delegate Chandni Raina told the gathering, according to Reuters. “This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face.”

Energy expert Alice Hill at the Council on Foreign Relations noted that, while COP delegates failed on the main issues, they made progress on others like helping carbon markets and expanding energy storage worldwide.

But other issues arguably tainted COP29, too. Human rights groups charged Azerbaijani authorities with cracking down on dissidents, activists, and journalists who might be critical of the regime of the South Caucasic country’s President Ilham Aliyev, the Washington Post reported.

Some of those critical voices pointed out how Azerbaijan was a hydrocarbon-producing country that hoped to increase, not decrease, energy revenues from the COP29 – while using the government’s absolute control to stifle dissenting voices. Aliyev even recently referred to oil and gas in his former Soviet republic as a “gift of the God.”

Temperatures worldwide, meanwhile, are now forecast to be 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit higher by the end of the century. That’s 3.1 degrees Celsius – more than twice the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius that world leaders have targeted in their campaign to cut greenhouse gas emissions, explained the UN Environment Program.

Guardian columnist George Monbiot warned that failing to solve the problem would abet a collapse to rival that of the fall of the dinosaurs.

Some leaders are preparing. Australia and Tuvalu, a Pacific Island nation with a population of 11,200 people, recently signed a groundbreaking agreement to help the Tuvalu people survive if and when rising sea levels make its territory uninhabitable.

Under the agreement starting next year, World Politics Review wrote, 2.5 percent of Tuvalu’s population can emigrate to Australia annually, while Australia will fund coastal infrastructure in Tuvalu, and the two countries will expand their security cooperation.

Retreat, as the leaders of Tuvalu now believe, is sometimes the only option.