The UN COP28 climate talks in Dubai went into overtime on De. 12 as representatives of nations around the world negotiated to find common ground on serious disagreements over how to deal with this future of fossil fuels in the summit’s final text.
Many governments criticized a Dec. 11 draft of the final text for failing to call for a “phase-out” of fossil fuels that scientists maintain are the Number One source of greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming. While 100 countries, including the United States and the EU had advocated for the adoption of language for a fossil fuel phase-out, members of oil-producing OPEC nations opposed the move.
The lack of progress in Dubai wasn’t unexpected as the COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, mistakenly claimed during the summit that there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as agreed to in the 2015 international Paris Climate Agreement. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and climate activist who’s been arrested in nonviolent civil disobedience climate actions. Here, Kalmus, speaking for himself, assesses what was, and was not accomplished on seriously addressing the global climate crisis at the Dubai COP28 Climate Summit.
PETER KALMUS: First of all, sometimes things get kind of written down, pulled out, compromised, negotiated at the very last minute. But I think the probably the top headline of this climate summit is that it’s completely overrun by the fossil fuel industry. And we need to recognize very, very clearly, everyone needs to know — and I don’t think everyone does know, but everyone needs to know — if you have friends who don’t know this, make sure they know this, that the cause of global heating by far the biggest cause is fossil fuels.
And the fossil fuel industry has been lying for almost 50 years. It’s extremely well documented. They’ve been spending billions to fund disinformation, a very coordinated campaign … basically legalized bribery, campaign donations to block action at you know, the local, state, federal level.
So, to have this climate summit be run, be hosted by the United Arab Emirates, which is the second biggest fossil fuel producing nation in the world, their country’s national fossil fuel corporation, ADNOC and the CEO of that is the president of this climate summit and the largest set of delegates is from the world’s fossil fuel industry, and so it’s basically it’s rotten to the core. It reminds me of like a dead body just teeming with maggots where, you know, like every one of those fossil fuel lobbyists and delegates is basically a maggot.
So you can’t expect to get a good outcome because if fossil fuels is the cause, the solution is ending fossil fuels, period. That’s it.
So if the fossil fuel industry is in charge and they’ve spent 50 years showing us that they’re acting dishonestly and doing everything they can to block climate action and to keep the gravy flowing for them. And they’re in charge of this process now, then it’s just a sick joke. And I had an op-ed to that effect right when the meeting started in Newsweek.
So that’s I think that’s the top line thing. And if you have been reading some Twitter threads about the stock take and the text that’s coming out from COP28 and in my opinion, it’s the nightmare scenario, which is very dismaying. It’s grossly insufficient. Just really mealy-mouthed language. Nothing in there about ending fossil fuels. This one really got me, the text calls on countries to, quote, take actions that could include reducing fossil fuels.
So? So basically just another year, it looks like right now. Just another year of kicking the can down the road. Even greater infiltration by the fossil fuel industry. And nothing kind of convincing me that, you know, this process is taking us toward a rapid end to the fossil fuel industry, which is what planet Earth desperately needs.
So that’s my summary. I wish it was better. But, you know, you put the foxes in charge of the henhouse and you get a bunch of dead chickens, I guess.
SCOTT HARRIS: And Peter, I did want to ask you about the really essential question that you talk about in your book. What’s the most effective thing you think people listening can do to pressure U.S. politicians to overcome the power of the fossil fuel industry — to demand serious action to address the climate crisis rather than just, as you said earlier, kicking the can down the road?
PETER KALMUS: Yeah, right. I mean, it’s striking that President Biden is refusing even to declare a climate emergency, which is, you know, kind of mind-boggling, that we’re so clearly in a climate emergency. To me, that steady march for the last 20 or so years, last few decades has been terrifying enough because it seems like every year the planet gets a little hotter and and every year we have politicians, including Democrats, that continue to just expand fossil fuels, to approve the Willow project, to push the Mountain Valley Pipeline and expand drilling on federal lands and waters, etc.
Yeah, it’s very hard to know what to do as an individual. My view is that writing letters to politicians doesn’t work anymore. Like, I think that’s a waste of time. I think petitions is kind of a waste of time. You know, those things assume that the people in charge all have our best interests at heart. And it seems like what they have instead is a cut of financial ties to the fossil fuel industry, right?
So if that’s the priority, then just calling their office or writing letters is not going to do much. So we what we need to do is mobilize the movement so that we can vote those people out of office who want to expand fossil fuels and replace them with people who want to take climate action.
So the movement has to get stronger. That’s the bottom line. So how do you do that? You do that by joining with other people. Finding groups that you can have strategies that you agree with and adding your voice to theirs by taking risks. So we have to start taking risks in all of our institutions, in our social circles, speaking up like, you know, it’ll feel a little bit uncomfortable because social norms right now are to politely not talk about global heating and Earth’s breakdown.
But we have to start moving those social norms away from fossil fuels. Away from, you know, Taylor Swift jetting off in her private jet. Right? That that shouldn’t be seen as socially acceptable anymore. And yet, you know, it’s still apparently is. So raise their voices. Change your institutions. Change your places of business, protest at your schools, but most importantly, join together with other people while you’re doing that, because it’ll be much more powerful and it will be much more fun.
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