Papua New Guinea has declared a boycott of next month’s UN climate summit, labeling global warming negotiations a “waste of time” full of empty promises from big polluters.
While many have criticized the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) summit in the past, it is rare for a government to so completely reject the UN’s key climate talks.
“There’s no point in going if we fall asleep because of jet lag because we won’t get anything done,” Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told AFP ahead of the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan in November.
“All the world’s major polluters are pledging and committing millions to help alleviate and support the climate. And I can tell you that it’s all going to advisors now,” he said Thursday.
The island of New Guinea is home to the third largest area of rainforest in the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and has long been seen as one of the “lungs of the Earth.”
Papua New Guinea is impoverished, flanked by the ocean and already prone to natural disasters. It is also considered highly vulnerable to the unfolding dangers of climate change.
“COP is a total waste of time,” Tkatchenko said.
“We are tired of the rhetoric and the merry-go-round of doing absolutely nothing over the past three years.
“We are the third largest rainforest country in the world. We are sucking in the pollutants from these big countries. And they are getting away with it unchecked.”
One of the first countries to boycott COP
with almost every country having agreed to cut emissions to limit rising global temperatures.
But subsequent meetings have been fueled by the perception that major polluters are using their power to limit further climate action.
Meanwhile, the adaptation funds set up through the COP to help developing countries have been accused of slow bureaucracy that fails to understand the urgency of the crisis.
Civil society groups came together last year to push for a boycott of the COP summit hosted by the United Arab Emirates, claiming the meeting would “greenwash” the petrostate’s poor climate credentials.
Impressed by the proposed emissions reductions, dozens of African countries led a temporary strike by developing countries during the 2009 COP talks in Copenhagen.
And Ukraine has pressured its allies to avoid this year’s summit if Russian leader Vladimir Putin shows his face.
But Papua New Guinea is one of the first countries to strongly call for a boycott of the COP summit altogether.
“Why are we spending all this money on the other side of the world to go to these talkfests,” Tkatchenko said.
‘We can do a hundred times more than COP’
Papua New Guinea is one of five Pacific countries involved in a crucial International Court of Justice case that will soon test whether polluters can be charged with neglecting their climate obligations.
Low-lying countries in the Pacific Ocean, such as Tuvalu, could be almost entirely swallowed by rising oceans within the next thirty years.
Tkatchenko said the decision to withdraw from the COP talks was welcomed by others within the Pacific bloc.
“I speak on behalf of the smaller island states that are worse off than Papua New Guinea. They received no support and recognition at all.”
Papua New Guinea would instead try to reach its own climate deals through bilateral channels, Tkatchenko said.
He noted that negotiations were already underway with Singapore.
“With like-minded countries like Singapore, we can do a hundred times more than COP,” Tkatchenko said.
“They have a large environmental footprint, and we would like to think about how they can work with Papua New Guinea to solve that.”
A key meeting ahead of COP29 ended in frustration earlier this month, with countries making little progress on financing
COP is the United Nations’ main climate change conference, an annual summit at which countries aim to establish legally binding climate commitments.
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