Is COP Just a Talking Shop?

Date: 23/12/24

As an off-grid Energy-as-a-Service provider that’s been leading the way on climate action for years through solar site generator hire, we at Think Hire have been watching the recent COP29 talks with great interest.

But do these talks actually achieve anything, or are they, as Greta Thunberg famously described them, just “blah, blah, blah”? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at COP and its challenges and see how remarkable it is that they get anything done at all, let alone a $300 billion a year climate finance deal.

A huge undertaking

Any criticism of COP, and there has been plenty of that this year, needs to take into account the sheer size of the undertaking. COP, or more formally the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, brings together no less than 200 nations from across the world.

When you consider that this includes everyone, from nations that rely on oil and gas exports and are threatened by any move away from fossil fuels, to remote island nations whose very existence is threatened by rising sea levels, the phrase ‘herding cats’ comes to mind. No wonder this year’s talks came close to collapse and over-ran by 33hours, finishing at 3am two days after they were meant to conclude.

Conflicting agendas

They say you can’t please all of the people, all of the time, and COP28, last year, was a classic example of the conflicting agendas around the table. In trying to find agreeable wording for the need to reduce fossil fuel use, both ‘phase out’ and ‘phase down’ were rejected in favour of the far woollier ‘transition away’. Even then, this ‘transition’ was limited specifically to energy systems, rather than including industry or transport.

This year, the Arab Group insisted that they ‘will not accept any text that targets specific sectors’, while the hosts, Azerbaijan, described oil and gas as a ‘gift from God’. Reconciling positions like these with the urgent need to cut down on greenhouse gasses is almost impossible. It’s little wonder that it leaves us with the kind of ‘flawed compromise’ that one group described the latest deal as.

The best we’ve got

The COP meetings may be a long way from ideal, but to paraphrase Winston Churchill, they’re the worst option we have, apart from all the others. Developing nations are going to get more money as a result of the COP29 talks, up from $100 billion to $300 billion a year by 2035, and the Paris Agreement at COP21 in 2015 remains the benchmark for international climate targets and action.

COP meetings also ensure that smaller nations get a voice in discussions. This simply wouldn’t happen if climate deals were done at meetings like G20. Even Christiana Figueres, one of the co-signers of a letter which called the COP talks ‘no longer fit for purpose’, admitted that the COP process is an essential and irreplaceable vehicle.

No argument with Think Hire

Many changes in business involve COP like negotiations, with different departments pushing conflicting agendas. Fortunately, changing your site generator hire to a more environment-friendly option with Think Hire is something all departments can agree on.

Finance will be happy with switching to solar powered site generator hire because it cuts operating costs by 60% or more. Your directors will support switching site generator hire because it helps the company to meet its net zero goals. Even the team on site will be happy with your new site generator hire, as solar power eliminates the incessant noise that comes with traditional diesel generators. 

In fact, we’re so good at finding flexible, affordable environmental solutions, perhaps Think Hire should host the next COP meeting at our headquarters in Oldham, or one of our five depots across the UK.

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