Coalition-Driven Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Bypasses UN Consensus

Key Quotes

"Well I would say eventful is that a good word to describe it the conference took place in these big plastic tents and the day before the conference was supposed to end I was on the phone with my editor in the US sadie babbitt and then people started running through the tent saying there's a fire okay there's really a fire jesus effing christ sadie oh no I know I got to move on sadie's telling me to get out of here what happened it seems to have been an electrical issue something caught fire there was a huge blaze enveloping part of the tent at least a dozen people were treated for smoke inhalation tens of thousands of us were evacuated but when I ran out of the tent the first thing I did was find this guy named andres gomez because Emily today's podcast it's not about the fire it's about what was supposed to happen just 15 minutes after the fire broke out"

Julia Simon describes the chaotic scene at COP 30, highlighting how a fire disrupted a significant announcement. Simon emphasizes that the podcast's focus remains on the planned announcement, not the fire itself, indicating the importance of the event that was nearly overshadowed.

"Well quick refresher of course about 70 of the greenhouse gas emissions heating our planet Emily they come from burning fossil fuels facts burning coal oil and natural gas is the single biggest driver of global warming exactly and for the past 30 years countries have been coming to these un climate conferences to discuss how to tackle global warming but many countries say these conferences they're called cops do not have nearly enough emphasis on the need to transition away from fossil fuels again which is the main driver of climate change"

Julia Simon explains the fundamental cause of global warming, identifying the burning of fossil fuels as the primary driver. Simon points out the long-standing frustration among many nations that UN climate conferences, or COPs, have not sufficiently prioritized transitioning away from these emissions.

"I spoke to one carlos manterrey he's special representative for climate change of panama about this topic every time that we come to these cops we try to red debate science we try to avoid talking about fossil fuels it's really really stupid it's like trying to deal with a patient that has covid but not treating the patient for covid yeah Emily it took 28 years for the cop agreement to even mention transitioning away from fossil fuels"

Julia Simon relays Carlos Manterrey's frustration with the COP process, quoting him on the avoidance of discussing fossil fuels. Manterrey likens this avoidance to not treating a COVID patient for COVID, illustrating the perceived ineffectiveness of the conferences. Simon notes the significant delay in even mentioning fossil fuel transition in COP agreements.

"And so like we said many countries are deeply frustrated with this un process it's a process by consensus Emily so every country has to agree to the text of this agreement and you have close to 200 countries in the process and while Norway and Mexico are oil producers and they want a roadmap off of fossil fuels some other big oil producers like Saudi Arabia they do not so you have some countries pretty consistently blocking text that mentions fossil fuels"

Julia Simon explains the challenge of reaching consensus at UN climate conferences. Simon highlights that the requirement for all nearly 200 countries to agree on texts leads to blocking by some major oil-producing nations, preventing progress on fossil fuel phase-out language, even when other oil producers support it.

"Countries like Mexico for instance Andres was showing me on his phone a list of about 20 countries that planned to announce something called the first international conference on the just transition away from fossil fuels or the Santa Marta conference for short what is the Santa Marta conference well like we said before some of those countries that really want this roadmap away from fossil fuels they're again frustrated with those consensus rules of cop everybody has to agree these countries want to take action urgently and just like if you're doing a group project Emily and there's some people who are really into it and then some people who are not so much these countries some call them the high ambition countries they're like we want our own space we want our own conference to really tackle the phase out of fossil fuels asap"

Julia Simon introduces the Santa Marta conference as an initiative by a group of "high ambition countries" frustrated with the consensus-based COP process. Simon explains that these countries, wanting urgent action on fossil fuel phase-out, are creating their own conference to bypass the roadblocks encountered at the larger UN meetings.

"The idea of the Santa Marta conference is to have this first space in which we are completely clear that the phasing out is necessary because it's not easy no one is saying that it is easy but if we don't face the problems we cannot build the solutions"

Julia Simon conveys the core purpose of the Santa Marta conference, as stated by Irene Vélez Torres, Colombia's Environment Minister. Simon emphasizes that the conference aims to openly acknowledge the necessity of phasing out fossil fuels, recognizing that facing this challenge is crucial for developing effective solutions.