Commitments on Climate Action Frequently Lose Integrity

In recent years, the global community has made numerous pledges to combat climate change, with a particular focus on preserving the Amazon rainforest. The US has pledged to donate $500 million over five years to support Brazil's efforts to end deforestation.

One of the most significant pledges in history, the Paris Agreement, aimed to restrict global heating to below two degrees above pre-industrial levels. However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported that we had only twelve years to meet these goals, but it will now be impossible to achieve this.

Countries have also made internal pledges around cutting emissions, and money is dedicated to these efforts as well. For instance, the UK had promised £11.6 billion to tackle the climate crisis, but allegations of retracting the pledge were made. At COP26, rich countries pledged another £11.6 billion to address the climate crisis, including this contribution from the UK government. However, there is no information available about the UK withdrawing its commitment since COP26.

The UN Conference of the Parties (COP) is a platform where many climate pledges are made. At COP15 in 2009, wealthy countries pledged to donate $100 billion per year from both public and private sector sources to poorer countries by 2020, but this was not met.

Climate pledges often focus on the physical, scientific nature of the problem, not its socio-economic causes. Critics argue that wealthy governments' infrastructure commitments do not address the root causes of the climate crisis, which is racial capitalism. Governments uphold and are deeply invested in maintaining this system, leading to a lack of empathy and solidarity from Global North countries, having lethal consequences for those in the Global South who are disproportionately impacted by the causes and effects of climate change.

However, there are efforts to address these issues. The Climate Justice Resilience Fund supports women, youth, and Indigenous-led projects in various regions. One such organisation is OFRANEH in Honduras, a matriarchal community dedicated to preserving and protecting the natural world. The CLIMA Fund also partners with organisations worldwide working on climate protection and resilience.

Despite the challenges, it is clear that continued efforts are needed to keep global temperatures to 1.5 degrees of warming. A world at 1.5 degrees of global warming would be apocalyptic, with coral reefs almost completely disappearing, extreme weather worsening, loss of countless plant and animal species, and melting ice and rising sea levels creating flooding across the world.

As we move forward, it is essential to remember that Indigenous communities hold many solutions to the climate crisis. By supporting these communities and addressing the socio-economic causes of climate change, we can work towards a more sustainable and equitable future for all.