The architect of the Paris Agreement described the upcoming United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) summit as a “circus,” arguing that the main purpose of the climate meeting could be done from home.
Christiana Figueres, a climate advocate and former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said that the need of the hour is to finance and execute the agreement, which was adopted in 2015.
“Any business plan, if it just stays on the shelf, then it is good for nothing. The Paris Agreement is good for nothing if it is not financed and executed,” she said on Wednesday while speaking at the Sarawak Renewable Energy Forum in Malaysia.
The majority of the 90,000 people scheduled to attend COP28 summit in Dubai at the end of November are not government delegates, Figueres said, but key individuals from private and public sectors who need to “execute” the Paris accord.
“90,000 people go there for a circus,” she said. “Honestly, I would prefer 90,000 people stay at home and do their job.”
Figueres also touted green hydrogen, hydropower and geothermal as necessary base load power sources for a cleaner energy future, as solar and wind are intermittent.
She also called on financial institutions to recognize that different energy sources require unique financing needs.
“We live in an era of fuel diversity,” Figueres said, adding that it is “tragic” that banks are not meeting the financing requirements of the transition toward green energy.
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