Michal Fidler, director of Intelligentsia International Inc., took the photographs and Dr. John Capece, director of Campus Climate Corps, wrote the captions for the following photo essay on the 29th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29).To watch recordings of daily briefings on COP29 from Campus Climate Corps, click here.For part two of this photo essay, click here.
Hosting this year’s United Nations climate conference is the former Soviet republic and now independent nation of Azerbaijan, situated on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. This is the 29th annual gathering of the signatory parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, concluded back in 1992. Hence the event is called “Conference of Parties,” or COP29. Many criticize the selection of Baku, Azerbaijan, to host a climate solutions conference given its status as a petrostate. This capital city’s beaches cannot hide its oil sheen or the monstrous offshore oil rigs, which begin abruptly where the luxury hotel waterfront walkways end. While definitely “in your face,” the reality is that on a per capita basis, Azerbaijan’s production of fossil fuels is comparable to that of the United States. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)The conference venue is a series of temporary structures assembled in and around Baku’s 70,000-capacity stadium. Whereas 85,000 people attended COP28 in Dubai UAE (a petrostate that produces four times the fossil fuels of the USA or Azerbaijan, per capita), fewer than 30,000 are estimated to be attending COP29. Kicking off Nov. 11, a final head count will be reported when the conference ends Nov. 22. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)External political agendas seem to dominate COP29. Government representatives of many impoverished nations attend, including the Taliban of Afghanistan, to get their share of the “Loss and Damage” funds being assembled by nations and corporations whose economies were built by fossil fuels. Many of these nations practice brands of politics far more injurious to their populations than the dangers currently posed by climate change. But there will come a day that climate will compete with the most destructive of governments man can produce. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)External politics drives even the conference location selection. Given the requirement for consensus among all parties, any one nation can exercise veto power over who hosts the next COP. Russia has used this power liberally, motivated by its animosity towards NATO nations that have sought to host in recent years. This dynamic resulted in site selections like Baku. This same motivation and parallel set of alliances may also explain why the current host nation that, while graciously welcoming conference attendees, has spared no criticism for certain other nations, including the COP21 host, France. The war in Ukraine is definitely being waged with diplomatic tactics in the halls of the climate conference, as are the Middle East conflicts. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)Not to be outdone in the extent to which external agendas and events are driving its COP29 engagement, U.S. climate envoy John Podesta represents a lame-duck American administration and contemplates his own nation’s future role in the climate negotiation process. As atmospheric greenhouse gasses follow an unwavering path ever upward, U.S. politics and commitment, like that of so many other nations, swings from one extreme to the other like a pendulum. While it marks the passage of critical time, a swinging pendulum on average goes nowhere. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)Seemingly every aspect of COP29 and of all prior conferences is an exercise in confrontation, concession and frustration. The sovereignty of nations and the niceties of diplomatic convention ensure that few rules and standards are established or enforced. Clear signals and warnings are ignored in pursuit of competitive advantage. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)Even the design motif of the Russian Pavilion seemed to convey a political message through ironic imagery. Wheat was prominent – the yellow element in the Ukrainian flag. One could not help but draw an association with the Ukrainian grain needed so badly in other nations but being destroyed or absconded from the occupied territories of Ukraine. Wheat and so many other global food crops are at risk from the destructive forces of both man-made war and man-made, climate-driven extreme weather. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)Always striving to snatch a morsel of victory from the jaws of defeat, diplomats and planners discuss rebuilding war-torn regions of our world using green technology. While noble and necessary, nothing can change the underlying math that war creates not only immediate and lasting misery for all who come in contact with it, but it can never yield beneficial impacts upon greenhouse gas emissions. War is immeasurably dirty in every respect. Yet, like fossil fuels, humans seem addicted to it. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)Given that China has single-handedly doubled the global consumption of coal in recent decades, it is ironic that this country is poised to be the big PR winner at COP29 with its prominent, well-staffed pavilion, and lots of trinket giveaways. Yet all this coal energy has enabled China to manufacture and deploy within its nation half of all solar PV panels installed globally, according to 2023 estimates. The world of climate solutions is awash in these sort of seeming contradictions, with the only common denominator being that short-term economic interests prevail. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)While the wide avenues of Madrid were choked with hundreds of thousands of protestors demanding climate action at COP25 in 2019, protests at COP29 in 2024 are relegated to sections of side rooms where none but the participants can see or hear the desperate appeals. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)Meanwhile, the tedious work of editing reams of negotiation documents to reach the lowest common denominator language continues in dozens of separate meeting rooms – documents that will add to the mountains from previous years. There is no certainty that any of the words they contain will be sufficient or even implemented. We await the final outcome expected at the end of the week. A second photo essay submitted then will hopefully reflect progress and hope. (Photo by Michal Fidler, text by John Capece)
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