Climate summit veterans: This isn't working

A group of high-level climate diplomats — including Christiana Figueres, who led the UN climate talks in Paris in 2015 — released an open letter Friday in the midst of COP29 calling for urgent reform of the summit process.

Why it matters: It is rare to have so many luminaries and COP veterans, including former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and former Irish president and climate advocate Mary Robinson, to call for rethinking COPs while in the middle of negotiations.

What they're saying: The letter, endorsed by prominent climate scientists, calls for COPs to shrink in size and focus on implementation and accountability.

• "Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity," it states.
• "Whilst the Paris framework was intended to operate in "delivery mode", it is not working because governments are not held to account to ensure that national action plans align with the latest scientific evidence."

Between the lines: Azerbaijan, where COP29 is taking place, is the second petrostate in a row to host the talks.

• The letter calls for eligibility criteria that might prevent such nations from hosting the talks if they do not "support the phase out/transition away from fossil energy."

Zoom out: The new letter follows an initial one sent in February 2023, which followed COP28. The new one goes much further, however, in its recommendations.

• The signatories are not the only ones advocating for reforms. Former vice president Al Gore has been pushing for the consensus voting process at COPs to be changed to allow measures to pass with two-thirds support.
• This might give more vulnerable nations more sway over the process, compared to fossil fuel producing countries.

The bottom line: The COP veterans are not lobbing a grenade into the middle of COP29 but see an urgent need to transform the process given the severity of climate impacts and slow pace of action.