Tom Athanasiou has a new piece in Common Dreams on the COP27 negotiations, entitled “The Notable Victory on Loss and Damage at COP27.” You can read his conclusion here and the full piece at this link.
One last point: about the tragedy of the situation, the tragedy that focuses the conversation on ways and means—finance and technology—instead of mobilization and solidarity. In other words, the debate is on money rather than an emergency phase-out of fossil fuels, a phase-out that simultaneously lifts up the poor and creates new development paths around the world.
At COP27, the crunch came down to finance and fossil fuels, and this is likely to happen again and again, even as loss and damage remains forever on the stage. These are the key pieces, and all of them must be addressed as part of an honest and productive conversation about a rapid fossil fuel phase-out that is fair, or at least fair enough. The only option is to talk about developmental justice—for everyone—despite the terrifying waves of loss and destruction that can no longer be avoided.
