COP29 Set to Convene Following Trump Reelection

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • Representatives from almost 200 countries are scheduled to gather in Baku, Azerbaijan for COP29 climate talks starting Monday. The conference will focus on finance — specifically the cost of transitioning away from fossil fuels and making regions more resilient to extreme weather.[1][2]
  • The conference will begin less than a week after the US reelected former Pres. Donald Trump. The Pres.-elect has formerly labelled climate change a hoax and has made withdrawing the US from the 2015 Paris climate agreement a priority for his next administration.[3]
  • Trump advisers have also voiced a desire to pull the US out of the underlying UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.[3]
  • Aside from US Pres. Joe Biden, European Commission Pres. Ursula von der Leyen, French Pres. Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Brazilian Pres. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are all expected to be absent from COP29, as are the the leaders of China, South Africa, Japan, and Australia.[4][5][6]
  • Nonetheless, a number of US officials at the state and city level, behind the formation of groups such as the US Climate Alliance, America Is All In, and Climate Mayors, are expected to be in attendance.[3]

Sources: [1]New York Times, [2]Sky News, [3]MSN, [4]Guardian, [5]POLITICO and [6]Bloomberg.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by Guardian. The election of Trump, who has frequently labelled climate change a hoax and plans to roll back many of the agreements underpinning efforts to slow down man-made emissions, is simply a disaster for the environment. Nonetheless, the climate movement has been here before and will continue to push forward with plans to mitigate the risks.
  • Right narrative, as provided by Fraser Institute. It's simply a con to suggest that all of the world's scientists agree on the complex set of variables causing the world to warm. It is disputed that man-made emissions are the driving cause behind these trends and it's not clear whether recent measures have had any impact other than to curtail the world's economies. Trump's reelection will ring in a new era of common sense when it comes to climate policy.

Predictions