For Many, the Global Warming Confab in the Egyptian Desert Was a Mirage

"Amid fighting over croissants and climate, the UN’s COP27 mirrored a world that can’t come together to break free of fossil fuels and avoid a catastrophic future."

"SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt—The madness of COP27 started at the airport, where 50 diesel buses idled under the hot sun with doors wide open and air conditioners blasting until they headed out, often with just a handful of attendees aboard, delivering them to a far-flung network of hotels sprawled along the reef-fringed coast of the southern Sinai Peninsula.

Each day the fleet of buses drove hundreds of miles in endless rounds, spewing thousands of tons of carbon dioxide and soot into the air as they rolled past expanses of partly excavated desert, where more resort hotels and strip malls continue to spring up.

The carbon footprint of last year’s COP26 in Glasgow was 102,500 tons of carbon dioxide. At a price of $100 per ton that adds up to more than $10 million dollars. Might investing that money in green infrastructure upfront, before the conference, leave a lasting legacy better than the mountains of plastic waste produced at the talks each year? That conversation isn’t on the agenda."

Bob Berwyn reports for Inside Climate News November 24, 2022.

SEE ALSO:

"COP27 Climate Summit Missed Chance For Ambition On Fossil Fuels, Critics Say" (Reuters)

"COP27 Will Be Remembered As A Failure – Here’s What Went Wrong" (The Conversation)

"The 1.5C Climate Goal Died At Cop27 – But Hope Must Not" (Guardian)

"COP27 Climate Talks: What Succeeded, What Failed And What’s Next" (Nature)

"How Fossil Fuel Influence Choked Climate Talks" (HEATED)

 

Source: Inside Climate News, 11/29/2022