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These processes are all about people. We should never lose our humanity in the process. There should not be a ‘COP of the people’ pitted against a ‘COP of negotiators.’ We need to approach COP jointly as a conference of the people, by the people, and for people. —Yamide Dagnet, NRDC’s Senior Vice President, International
Yamide Dagnet, Senior Vice President, International at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
– As observers at the Conference of Parties closely monitored proceedings in Belém, many, such as Yamide Dagnet, approached the UN Climate Summit as an implementation COP. They are advocating for tangible signals to ignite crucial climate action before the climate crisis reaches irreversible levels.
For Dagnet, Senior Vice President International at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), it is an all hands-on deck situation where talks need to turn into action on the ground, which in turn must inform the acceleration expected from the negotiations.
“As COP focuses more on how we do things, we know the stakes will be more complex,” said Dagnet. “This is why the Paris Agreement set up improvement five-year-policy cycles, acknowledging that we might not get it right the first time, despite good intentions, and in view of possible unintended consequences and trade-offs.”
As a former negotiator now overseeing the international program at NRDC, an international nonprofit environmental organization that uses science, law, convening, and advocacy to mobilize a wide range of stakeholders to safeguard the Earth, Dagnet understands all too well how difficult the task ahead will be.
She points out that with increased geopolitical headwinds and development remaining front and center for countries around the globe, “we are not dealing just with a climate COP but a socio-economic COP.” To succeed, the multilateral process and climate action need to be designed in a way that is just, inclusive, and participatory.
Like many other observers, Dagnet believes that cooperation among nations and across regions is still moving in the right direction despite the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
“This COP was about diplomacy in action. Only one country has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement; the rest broadly remain on course. There are many issues that will make or break this conference, including the matter of scaling up finance for adaptation and for limiting loss and damage due to climate change. To manage these challenges, you need to measure, and to measure, you need to be guided by indicators, especially those that actually help us to move from just risk and vulnerability assessments to opportunity frameworks and value creation.”
But mobilization cannot be left to the government alone, she cautions.
“It requires support from multilateral and domestic financial institutions, as well as private capital investment. The private sector has for far too long seen climate finance for adaptation as an investment that brings no financial or economic returns. But the tide is changing. Insurance companies, asset managers, pension funds, commercial development, and small and medium companies realize it is an imperative to address adaptation. We need to amplify and demonstrate how there are a multitude of financial resources that could be saved through adaptation,” says Dagnet.
The need of the hour is to design investment as well as financial and insurance models that work for climate scenarios. Insurance business models are largely based on making money from what the company believes is unlikely to happen or happens rarely. Such is not the case when it comes to climate disasters, which there are going to be a lot more of.
A COP at the mouth of the Amazon and the proximity to the world’s largest tropical forest is not only symbolic but also provides the context to find new ways to value nature and attract funding to make nature and the people who depend on it, more resilient
Addressing whether the intense activism and lobbying at COP30 translated to shaping negotiation outcomes, Dagnet reminds us that the lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry have felt threatened by the Paris Agreement and are worried about the inevitable journey towards greener economies, something that challenges their business model.
“Over the past 10 years, lobbyists have become very good at using these spaces to delay transition,” added Dagnet. Analysis reveals one in 25 of COP30 participants represent the fossil fuel industry, with over 1600 lobbyists given access.
Sonia Guajajara, Minister for Indigenous Peoples of Brazil attends the “Global March: The Answer is Us” during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). Credit: Hermes Caruzo/COP30
Indigenous-led protests in Belem have consistently called for climate action and justice, as well as fossil fuel phase-outs and a halt to deforestation. Dagnet has frequent interactions with the Indigenous People, especially women, in Brazil. This includes Puyr Tembe, the first Indigenous woman to head a state secretariat in Pará; Joenia Wapichana, current president of the National Commission for the Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; Sonia Guajajara, who followed in Wapichana’s steps; and Indigenous leader Célia Xakriabá.
Dagnet stresses the importance of ensuring the protection of these environmental and human rights guardians. Add to that, she pushes for the need to amplify their stories, told in their own words with their voices. She believes that the world has a lot to learn from indigenous communities about living in harmony with nature and also about the increasing and complex threats they face that often cost them their lives.
Dagnet also highlights that climate talks and actions must be inclusive, and no one should be left behind, least of all women, local communities, and indigenous people, who want to be at the table rather than on the menu. “We need to engage with them in a meaningful way and move beyond tokenism,” she says.
NRDC has been integrating gender equity into its environmental initiatives, especially in India. Their multifaceted approach includes promoting women’s economic agency. Implemented through partnerships with organizations like Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India, NRDC fosters women’s access to clean energy in rural communities, helping them replace diesel water pumps with solar-powered ones, enabling clean cooking through biogas plants, and providing access to clean transportation. “This has helped increase their household income, improve health, save time and money, and position them as clean-energy leaders in their communities,” says Dagnet.
More recently, NRDC has identified finance as the connecting thread to various complex issues driven by climate change. At COP30, NRDC launched the Fostering Investable National Planning and Implementation (FINI) for Adaptation and Resilience collaborative in partnership with the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center. FINI connects capital to climate solutions. It is a collaborative effort to unite 100 organizations, including governments, philanthropies, investors, civil society, and more, to develop pipelines of USD 1 trillion worth of investments by 2028 for adaptation and resilience projects that will support countries and communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
When all is said and done at COP, with the negotiations, diplomacy, lobbying, and activism, Dagnet says, “These processes are all about people. We should never lose our humanity in the process. There should not be a ‘COP of the people’ pitted against a ‘COP of negotiators.’ We need to approach COP jointly as a conference of the people, by the people, and for people.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
