The annual COP31 climate conference, hosted by Turkey, is taking place amid increasing pressures for reforms in its processes. This conference, which brings together nearly 200 countries each year, faces serious challenges in addressing the climate crisis. France's Minister for Ecological Transition, Bérangère Couillard, has warned of fatigue from COP conferences and called for fundamental changes in this process.
Challenges and Criticisms at COP31
No significant announcements are expected during this two-week conference. Last year's conference in Brazil ended with disappointing results, where participating countries refrained from explicitly mentioning fossil fuels, the main driver of global warming, in their final text. This situation reflects a significant distance from important past agreements, including the Paris Agreement in 2015, which aimed to limit temperature increases to below 2 degrees Celsius.
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In 2023, the United Nations has warned about the failure to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius target. The deeper issue is that fossil fuel-producing countries have used the COP consensus agreement system to block further progress in reducing these polluting resources. Additionally, the United States, the world's largest economy and the second-largest polluter, withdrew from this process during Donald Trump's presidency.
Proposals for Reforming COP Structure
With increasing criticisms, calls have been made to reconsider how COP conferences are held. Some suggest that these conferences should be held biennially to allow sufficient time for meaningful discussions. Others propose changing the current consensus agreement system to a majority voting system to prevent agreements from being blocked by a few individuals.
Juan Carlos Navarro, Panama's Minister of Environment, has pointed out that the consensus rules allow “one ignorant person” to halt agreements at conferences, and this system needs to change. This issue was also emphasized in a letter published by the Rome Club, an international think tank. The letter mentions the urgent need to reform the COP process and emphasizes that the current structure tends to favor gradual progress.
This letter has also been signed by prominent figures such as Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN Special Envoy on Climate Change.
Ultimately, legal and meaningful issues must be addressed in holding COP conferences. Couillard also suggested that annual conferences could become events with different statuses.
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