COP28 was riddled with ironies from day one. For starters, it was held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a key oil and gas economy; and it was led by Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
“Is this a joke?” you might splutter, through increasingly polluted air. Far from a laughing matter, this is the ruling class’ best offer when it comes to ‘combating climate change’.
2023 has been another year of record-breaking heatwaves, extreme weather conditions, and wildfires that have cost thousands of people’s lives.
Humanity is in a race against the clock to prevent further global warming, and to adapt to increasingly harsh conditions to ensure people’s safety.
Instead of making things better, however, the outcome of these international negotiations is set to pour oil on the flames, as it were.
Interests
Researchers have pointed out how “ridiculous” it was for Al Jaber to be appointed COP28 president, given the rather obvious ‘conflict of interest’. After all, ADNOC is responsible for the largest net-zero busting expansion plans of any company in the world, according to Guardian.
Defending his actions, the Emirati minister disgracefully claimed that there is “no science” to indicate that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global warming. He added that “unless you want to take the world back into the caves”, eliminating the use of oil and gas would not allow for sustainable development.
Al Jaber clearly considered the summit to be little more than a business opportunity. Leaked documents obtained by the Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR) revealed that, behind the scenes, ADNOC spoke with 15 countries it wants to cooperate with to extract their carbon-heavy resources.
So, whilst showy pledges were made in public, the UAE energy monopoly was also proposing to help China evaluate its LNG (liquefied natural gas) opportunities; and in Mozambique, Canada, and Australia it “stands ready” to help develop oil and gas reserves.
At COP28, 50 major fossil fuel firms ‘pledged’ to cut emissions. But they did not even agree to stop drilling. And key global oil companies in large producers like China, Iraq, Iran, and Qatar did not even bother to add their names to this statement of intent.
Backtracking
Earlier in the week, journalists were reporting that any mention of phasing out fossil fuels had been completely dropped from the draft COP28 agreement. This caused so much outrage that the summit had to be extended.
In the end, negotiators finally agreed on a ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels. The gathering’s organisers tried to portray this as a ‘historic’ agreement – but only because no previous COP has ever mentioned moving away from oil and gas!
Nevertheless, the farcical events outlined above show why this ‘agreement’ should be treated with an industrial quantity of scepticism.
An article by Bloomberg explains that, whether these minimal promises will even become a reality, is all down to “investors, consumers and national governments”. They point out that previous pledges were ignored before, and emissions continued to rise.
Saudi Arabia also put strong pressure against the possibility of a ‘phase out’ fossil fuels, as Bloomberg reports:
“As COP28 got into full swing, the kingdom’s energy minister was asked by Bloomberg News if he’d be happy to see a phase down in the text.
“‘Absolutely not,’ he replied.
“The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries later sent a letter to members, asking them to lobby against any text that targets fossil fuels rather than emissions.”
And so, the final language was watered down to reflect these ‘concerns’.
Climate scientists have repeatedly stated how ‘essential’ it is to stop exploiting more fossil fuel reserves as soon as possible; that oil and gas cannot be safely burned without damaging the environment catastrophically. And yet, when Riyadh raises the merest growl, it gets its way.
Adaptation?
COP28 has been nothing but a smokescreen for capitalism’s destruction of the planet.
It is no surprise to see the ruling classes putting their own national economic interests ahead of fighting climate change. Especially at a time of deepening world crisis and shrinking markets, their priorities lie with defending the bosses’ profits.
‘Adaptation’ has been pushed by many officials and activists from climate-vulnerable nations. This question has become extremely urgent. With no end in sight when it comes to the burning of fossil fuels, increasing numbers of poorer countries desperately need more funds to build resilience against increased temperatures, droughts, and storms.
But on this issue too, there were no serious commitments at the COP28 summit.
The Independent spoke to Teresa Anderson, a global lead of climate justice at ActionAid International, who called the situation “incredibly frustrating”, adding:
“The negotiations haven’t matched the urgency and pace and the type of ambitious commitments we need to see. The trouble is that adaptation money doesn’t give funders a return on investment.” [Our emphasis]
Does that not sum up the myopic logic of capitalism?
After decades of cuts and austerity, the capitalists are not going to invest money into infrastructure that is simply not profitable. There is no long-term planning, as they are solely focussed on the short-term questions of protecting their own markets and profits.
But by kicking the can down the road, exacerbating all these problems, the ruling class is only making adaptation in the future even more extraordinarily expensive.
Farce
COP28 has surely played a role in exposing the ruling class on an even grander scale. But every international climate meeting before this has proven utterly useless. Such events are little more than pantomimes.
Nothing has been done to halt the climate catastrophe with any urgency. And we should have no illusions that the ruling class will do what is necessary going forwards.
Even where they do talk about policies to save the environment, the best that establishment politicians can offer is tokenistic greenwashing gestures that paint big business programmes in climate-friendly language and colours. And then they present the working class with the bill, while letting the billionaires and major polluters off scot-free.
What is really holding society back is the regime of private property and the profit motive. We possess the technological solutions needed to bring our economy into harmony with nature. But this cannot be achieved under the capitalist system, with all its fetters and contradictions – including, importantly, that of the nation state.
This brings out the fundamental class question: you cannot plan what you do not control; and you cannot control what you do not own.
Only when the working class seizes control of the commanding heights of the economy – such as the big banks, industries, and major monopolies – can we plan the economy in the interests of the majority of society, instead of the profits of the few.
Democratic, international planning and control is required to invest in infrastructure; to adapt to the impacts of climate change; and to roll out en masse alternative energy sources based on solar, wind and water.
Of course, this is only the beginning. But by removing profit from the equation, on the basis of genuine workers’ control and management, we can unleash the potential of all of humanity’s ingenuity and expertise.
This is what we – the communists – are fighting for.
This year’s COP summit has once again displayed the arrogance of the ruling class. They are laughing in our faces, whilst striking profitable deals. And it is us who are made to live with the consequences.
We won’t take this lying down, and neither should you. We need to urgently fight for a rational, democratically-planned, communist society, and take the destiny of humanity and the planet into our own hands.
