^{Contributed by Jim Hayes}

This year’s COP29 in Azerbaijan has come and it has started with a whimper. It is shaping up to an almost non-event, despite the fact that this has been the hottest year on record. Don’t expect any improvement before the close on 22 November. Even when the climate is warming ever more quickly, and many nations continue to do little about it.

Addressing the gathering, United Nations General Secretary António Guterres referred to the escalating pattern of destructive weather events. An illustrative example is the massive flooding in Valencia in Southern Spain, which has killed hundreds of people.

^{Spanish floods: before and after footage shows the scale of destruction in Valencia}

^{Video from The Guardian}

Instead of answering to the existential threat, key nations stayed away. This includes the United States and Germany. Another disturbing part is how western political leaders and media have treated Cop29 and the climate issue in general as od minor importance. It goes to show how corporate interests rate above everything else even more highly than they did in the past.

Within COP29 itself, there is the spectacle of argument about carbon credits. This is a scheme used by western nations in the main, to deflect having to act themselves, and pushing the burden onto poorer nations. It works this way. Big corporations based in these nations partially pay their way to continue creating carbon emissions. When the cost is less than the profit gained and others have to ultimately foot the bill, carbon credits are hardly an incentive to cut emissions.

Nevertheless, western countries continue to argue for the continuation of carbon credits and nations at a disadvantage argue against them. An effect is that little real action is taken.

The emerging global political environment is greater instability and insecurity. There is the relative decline of the west and rise of the east. Rising tensions are increasing the risk of war. Consequently, less attention is being put on the climate.

Little note is being taken about the reality that the opportunity to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius has come and gone. Experts are telling us that the rise will now be higher than this, and if there is no reversal in the do-nothing attitude, we are heading for a catastrophe.

Underlying the do-nothing attitude is the emphasis put on using climate investment as the principal vehicle for carbon reduction. This is a failed dead end. Turning climate action into a commodity that can be bought and sold in the market underlines the obsession with providing polluters with funds, which may or not be used to reduce carbon emissions. The bottom line is the deciding factor. Creating an investment market is already being used by the richest nations to escape the government obligation to act.

The solution doesn’t lie in waiting for governments to reach needed agreements at international gatherings or market solutions. It relies on the force of public opinion, boosted when millions act in a unified movement. Part of building this is to oppose the effort of western nations to continue to impose their dominance over global affairs. We are seeing the rise of a new wave of neocolonialism, which is increasing tensions and conflict. It must be opposed. The rise of a multipolar world must be supported. Only this will create greater equality.

The burden of reducing carbon emissions must be shared fairly. There are two ways of doing this. Nations which Have historically polluted the most must bear the greater share of the burden. Secondly, the share should be calculated on a per capita footprint basis, because otherwise poorer nations with higher populations will continue to be pushed to pay more than their share. A fairer system is far more likely to lead to global agreement.