By Mckenna Ryan
I’m writing on December 13th, the day after the official end of COP28, but negotiations still continue. This COP, the United States has established itself yet again as a guardian of the neocolonial global order. Throughout negotiations, it has been stubbornly committed to shutting down meaningful progress: refusing to contribute necessary funding to climate finance or the loss and damages fund nor to agree to a fossil fuel phase out, on top of being the only country to veto a cease-fire in Gaza.
Going forward, this precedent cannot be upheld. As US citizens, we must radically reconsider our role on the global stage and commit ourselves to climate ambition in the name of real global equity. To reach net zero by 2050, the US and other countries in the Global North must reduce our fossil fuel emissions by 80% by 2030. Not only that, but we must recognize our culpability in the climate crisis and finance the transition appropriately, something the Global South has been calling for since at least COP15. Adaptation and addressing loss and damages are by far the greatest priorities for the Global South right now, but they also must begin work now for an eventual phase out of fossil fuels. To allow for this, the Global North must provide the Global South with $207.7 billion, annually. Based on what we have historically contributed to fossil fuel emissions, the United States is responsible for 46.3% of this finance, or $97.1 billion dollars annually. (This number would be a drop in the bucket compared to our 2023 military budget of a whopping $773 billion dollars.)
At many points during COP28, I felt ashamed to be an American delegate. After all, Joe Biden didn’t even deem the event important enough to attend. If the United States chose to devote even a fraction of our resources to a fossil fuel phaseout, the rest of the world would follow. Immeasurable human suffering would be avoided. But instead, we continue to expand fossil fuel projects in the name of short term profit. We allow frontline communities to die and refuse to entertain any but the most incremental change, and never face consequences for our inaction. The UNFCCC system is not set up to actually address the fundamental inequity between the Global North and South, and so it maintains the status quo. It is time to entertain radical change. We must phase out fossil fuels, mobilize climate finance, and prioritize climate justice now. There is simply no other option.
