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U.N.

Wednesday November 13, 2024

November 13, 2024 by Graeme MacKay

COP29 is unfolding as a display of contradictions and empty promises, as world leaders skirt climate responsibilities amid worsening global disasters and the resurgence of climate crisis denial.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 13, 2024

As the Climate Crisis Worsens, COP29 Feels Like a Show Without Substance

November 18, 2022

As COP29 opens in Azerbaijan, this year’s UN climate summit has quickly become less about hope and more about the world’s inability—or unwillingness—to unite on the climate crisis. The event has turned into a forum of empty promises and political theatrics, leaving little to encourage those looking for serious, concrete action. With catastrophic climate events mounting worldwide and the incoming U.S. administration preparing to withdraw from the Paris Accord, we are rapidly moving from a critical juncture to a dangerous decline in global climate cooperation.

The backdrop to COP29 is a world grappling with relentless climate disasters. In the U.S., North Carolina was battered by unprecedented flooding, while wildfires and smoke in California and New York have turned once-safe communities into danger zones. Across the Atlantic, Spain’s Valencia recently experienced its worst floods in modern history. Scientists warn that each year of inaction accelerates the damage, yet the atmosphere at COP29 is anything but urgent. This is underscored by the absence of major players. President Joe Biden skipped the conference altogether following Trump’s election victory, while China sent only a deputy and the European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen stayed away entirely.

News: Why Is a Petrostate Holding This Year’s Climate Talks?

December 17, 2022

Without the presence of such key world leaders, the climate talks risk becoming what frustrated observers see as little more than a stage for empty rhetoric. That’s further compounded by the rhetoric from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who used his keynote to lambast Western critics of his country’s oil industry rather than championing true climate action. His speech, coupled with remarks from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the absurdity of doubling down on fossil fuels, shows the fractured reality: a tug-of-war between national interests and the well-being of the planet.

With climate finance taking centre stage, wealthy nations are once again being called to pay a fair share. For more than a decade, these countries have promised, and often failed, to mobilize $100 billion per year to support developing nations in mitigating climate impacts and shifting to cleaner energy. Canada, for instance, increased its pledge to $5.3 billion over five years, a figure that many argue is far too modest for the nation’s historical emissions contribution. Even with some countries pushing for increased commitments, the existing funding falls drastically short of the UN’s estimated need of $1.46 trillion annually by 2030—a figure that dwarfs current pledges and feels insurmountable given the economic and political landscapes.

News: COP29 climate summit host Azerbaijan lashes out at West in defence of oil and gas industry

November 10, 2021

Reader responses capture the growing discontent: many Canadians feel their tax dollars are being wasted on foreign climate pledges while fossil fuel subsidies at home keep the industry alive and well. Despite climate commitments, Canada continues to hand billions in subsidies to oil and gas sectors, mirroring a broader global hypocrisy. Meanwhile, developing nations who suffer the harshest climate impacts are left struggling to access funds while shouldering mounting debts.

Casting a dark shadow over COP29 is the election of Donald Trump, who has vowed to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Accord for the second time. This move threatens to destabilize any fragile climate consensus and will make America, the world’s largest historic carbon emitter, a climate rogue. With the U.S. pivoting away from international climate commitments, other nations may follow suit, leaving the Paris Accord toothless. Trump’s resurgence has emboldened climate denial and encouraged other fossil fuel interests, making it seem as though the world is stepping backward just as the effects of climate change become impossible to ignore.

One of the most damning aspects of the climate negotiations is the dual-track approach to funding. On one hand, wealthy nations direct money to initiatives like the Green Climate Fund, which funds renewable energy projects in low-income countries. On the other, these same countries funnel billions into fossil fuel subsidies to maintain their own energy security and economy. This two-faced approach not only undercuts climate finance but undermines the entire notion of a “green transition.” These contradictions leave everyday people wondering if the “green” in “green transition” refers more to money than to true environmental commitment.

News: How much does Canada owe in climate aid? A trillion-dollar question headlines COP29

Canada's Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, faces internal conflict within the Liberal government due to a sudden policy reversal on climate change, particularly the exemption for home-heating oil in Atlantic Canada, sparking criticism and raising concerns about the coherence and consistency of the government's climate policies.

November 4, 2023

Adding insult to injury, many climate finance contributions come as loans rather than grants, which traps poorer countries in debt rather than giving them the tools to build strong, independent green economies. Despite Canada’s pledge to move toward a 50-50 split between grants and loans, this ratio falls far short of the 60-40 split advocated by environmental groups. For small island nations and low-income countries already crippled by climate impacts, these loans feel like a betrayal.

The tragedy of COP29 is not just that it’s failing to deliver, but that it risks becoming irrelevant. With other global priorities—security, economic inflation, geopolitical conflicts—taking precedence, the climate crisis is slipping down the agenda for the countries most responsible for the damage. If wealthy nations remain unwilling to either act at home or support vulnerable nations abroad, the question will become not how we stop the climate crisis, but how we survive it.

The increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires devastating towns like Jasper, Alberta, and others across North America, driven by climate change and exacerbated by inadequate responses and continued fossil fuel reliance, underscore the urgent need for decisive action beyond mere "thoughts and prayers."

July 30, 2024

The reality is bleak. In a world where wealthy nations hedge their bets on fossil fuel stability while paying lip service to climate goals, climate summits like COP29 become pageants of performative diplomacy rather than engines of change. The urgency of the climate crisis demands more than grandstanding; it requires coordinated global sacrifice and an unwavering commitment to real, painful change. Until world leaders confront their own contradictions and take true responsibility, every COP will be a hollow gathering of bluster, hypocrisy, and lost opportunity.

It’s time for action, not theatrics. We may not get another chance.


As COP29 opens in Azerbaijan, the climate summit spotlights a series of contradictions that paint a picture more of hypocrisy than of hope. In his keynote, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev dismissed Western criticisms of his country’s oil reliance as “slander and blackmail.” His stance underscores the global paradox—leaders encourage a green transition but often default to fossil fuels, not least in resource-rich nations.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres followed Aliyev’s speech with a stark call-out: doubling down on fossil fuels, he argued, is an “absurd” strategy. Yet Guterres’s critique applies globally, not least to Canada, where green rhetoric runs headlong into the hard numbers: in 2023 alone, Ottawa shelled out over $18.6 billion in subsidies for fossil fuels, including billions for the Trans Mountain pipeline, financing for exports, and carbon capture ventures. Canada might fancy itself a climate champion, but it remains deeply invested in its petrostate reality.

Meanwhile, COP29’s developing-world attendees are justified in their frustration. They’ve been promised that wealthy countries would mobilize $100 billion annually since 2009 for climate adaptation. That goal, missed for years and only achieved in 2022, barely scratches the surface of what’s needed. It’s telling that even the Taliban—a group not often linked to environmental progress—arrived at COP29, urging wealthy nations to compensate for a crisis they “created.” That irony is rich, as is the uneasy spectacle of the world’s most powerful nations discussing climate finance in the luxurious halls of Baku.

But the circus hardly ends there. Despite promises of “sacrifice for the planet,” leaders in wealthier nations backslide when convenient—case in point, Justin Trudeau’s carve-out for home heating oil subsidies to placate Atlantic Canadian voters. As developing nations and vulnerable communities around the world brace for more severe climate impacts, it’s hard not to question whether the COP model, given its current direction, serves the world’s climate needs or is just window-dressing for yet another round of political expediency.

With the return of a climate-skeptic U.S. administration and high-profile absences from global leaders, COP29 feels more like a fractious forum for unmet promises and entrenched interests than the decisive moment we need. The stakes for climate action have never been higher, but with fossil fuel subsidies unabated and key leaders disengaged, the question lingers: can this COP deliver anything more than lip service to a rapidly worsening crisis?

– The Graeme Gallery

Read on Substack

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2024-20, Antonio Guterres, climate change, climate crisis, COP, COP conference, COP29, Donald Trump, Drill Baby Drill, environment, International, oil, Steven Guilbault, Substack, U.N., United Nations

Wednesday September 21, 2022

September 21, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 21, 2022

The world is in ‘peril’, UN chief warns General Assembly

In an alarming assessment, the head of the United Nations warned world leaders Tuesday that nations are “gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction” and aren’t ready or willing to tackle the challenges that threaten humanity’s future – and the planet’s. “Our world is in peril – and paralyzed,” he said.

October 30, 2021

Speaking at the opening of the General Assembly’s annual high-level meeting, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made sure to emphasize that hope remained. But his remarks reflected a tense and worried world. He cited the war in Ukraine and multiplying conflicts around the world, the climate emergency, the dire financial situation of developing countries and setbacks in U.N. goals for 2030 including an end to extreme poverty and quality education for all children.

He also warned of what he called “a forest of red flags” around new technologies despite promising advances to heal diseases and connect people. Guterres said social media platforms are based on a model “that monetizes outrage, anger and negativity” and buys and sells data “to influence our behaviour.” Artificial intelligence he said, “is compromising the integrity of information systems, the media, and indeed democracy itself.”

September 21, 2016

The world lacks even the beginning of “a global architecture” to deal with the ripples caused by these new technologies because of “geopolitical tensions,” Guterres said.

His opening remarks came as leaders from around the planet reconvened at U.N. headquarters in New York after three years of pandemic interruptions, including an entirely virtual meeting in 2020 and a hybrid one last year. This week, the halls of the United Nations are filled once more with delegates reflecting the world’s cultures. Many faces were visible, though all delegates are required to wear masks except when speaking to ward off the coronavirus.

Nearly 150 heads of state and government are on the latest speakers’ list, a high number reflecting that the United Nations remains the only place not just to deliver their views but to meet privately to discuss the challenges on the global agenda – and hopefully make some progress.

September 14, 2022

The 77th General Assembly meeting of world leaders convenes under the shadow of Europe’s first major war since World War II – the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has unleashed a global food crisis and opened fissures among major powers in a way not seen since the Cold War.

The death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and her funeral in London on Monday, which many world leaders attended, created last-minute headaches for the high-level meeting. Diplomats and U.N. staff have scrambled to deal with changes in travel plans, the timing of events and the logistically intricate speaking schedule for world leaders. (The Globe & Mail)

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …

https://mackaycartoons.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2022-0922-NAT.mp4

 

Posted in: Canada, International Tagged: 2022-31, Canada, climate change, diplomacy, hate, intransigence, Justin Trudeau, no action, Printed in the Toronto Star, talk, U.N., United Nations, Vladimir Putin

Wednesday March 4, 2020

March 11, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 4, 2020

Ex-PM Joe Clark campaigns for Security Council seat in Africa, Persian Gulf

Former prime minister and foreign minister Joe Clark faces a tough slog during his travels to the Persian Gulf and Africa to campaign for Canada’s bid for the United Nations Security Council, analysts said Monday.

Joe Clark

Clark began a one-week trip Monday as “special envoy” to Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt to campaign for Canada’s bid for a temporary two-year seat on the UN’s most powerful body.

If elected, the Trudeau government says Canada will continue to work to strengthen multilateralism, foster peace, address climate change, promote economic security and advance gender equality.

Bessma Momani, an expert in Middle East affairs at the University of Waterloo, says Clark may not get a very receptive audience to Canada’s push for women’s rights among some of the government representatives he will be meeting.

“The people certainly hold Canada in high regard, regardless of what the governments may think,” Momani said. “People are still queuing to immigrate here so clearly we are still doing something right.”

“Certainly our recent emphasis on human rights and women’s rights is probably not received that favourably in that part of the world, which tends to have more conservative values and are part of the global autocratic turn.”

February 8, 2020

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Ethiopia and Senegal in February as part of his government’s campaign for the council seat. Several cabinet ministers have also been visiting countries across Africa in recent months.

The secret ballot at the UN General Assembly takes place in June for a two-year term starting next year.

Africa, with its 54 voting countries, is a key voting bloc in the tough fight that pits Canada against Norway and Ireland for two available seats. Both countries spend more per capita than Canada on foreign aid, which is seen by many analysts as an impediment to Canada’s chances to winning the competition.

December 10, 2003

Clark is an appropriate choice to campaign in the region, but he will have his work cut out for him, said Fen Hampson, a Carleton University expert who wrote a recent book on the foreign policy of the ex-prime minister Brian Mulroney. Clark served as Mulroney’s minister of external affairs.

“African leaders with long memories will recall the important role Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney played in the Commonwealth in helping to bring an end to apartheid in South Africa and also stepping up to the plate in the Ethiopian famine crisis,” said Hampson. (CTV News) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2020-08, Canada, diplomacy, Joe Clark, Justin Trudeau, Maple Leaf, Mascot, security council, seminar, U.N., U.N. Security Council, United Nations

Saturday August 10, 2019

August 17, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 10, 2019

To reduce global warming, people need to eat less meat: UN report

Global meat consumption must fall to curb global warming, reduce growing strains on land and water and improve food security, health and biodiversity, a United Nations report on the effects of climate change concluded.

Although the report stopped short of explicitly advocating going meat free, it called for big changes to farming and eating habits to limit the impact of population growth and changing consumption patterns on stretched land and water resources.

Plant-based foods and sustainable animal-sourced food could free up several million square kilometres of land by 2050 and cut 0.7-8.0 gigatonnes a year of carbon dioxide equivalent, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said.

“There are certain kinds of diets that have a lower carbon footprint and put less pressure on land,” Jim Skea, professor at London’s Imperial College, said on Thursday.

The IPCC met this week in Geneva, Switzerland to finalize its report which should help to guide governments meeting this year in Chile on ways to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement.

“The IPCC does not recommend people’s diets … Dietary choices are very often shaped or influenced by local production practices and cultural habits,” Skea, who is one of the report’s authors, told reporters in Geneva. (National Post) 

 

Posted in: Canada, International Tagged: 2019-28, Agriculture, beef, climate change, farming, food, genetically modified, International, meat, Science, ScienceExpo, U.N., United Nations

Tuesday May 29, 2012

May 29, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday May 29, 2012

Annan warns Syria of grave concern

Peace envoy Kofi Annan expressed “grave concern” to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday and Western nations threw out its envoys to protest against a massacre of 108 civilians, many of them children, in the town of Houla.

France, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia said they were expelling the Syrian envoys from their capitals in a move that was coordinated with the United States and underlined Assad’s diplomatic isolation.

The killings in Houla drew a chorus of powerful condemnation from around the world, with the United Nations saying entire families had been shot dead in their homes.

“Bashar al-Assad is the murderer of his people,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Le Monde. “He must relinquish power. The sooner the better.” His Australian counterpart Bob Carr said: “This massacre of more than 100 men, women and children in Houla was a hideous and brutal crime.”

Assad’s government late on Monday denied having anything to do with the deaths, or even having heavy weapons in the area.

Western countries that have called for Assad to step down were hoping that the Houla killings would tip global opinion, notably that of Syria’s main protector Russia, towards more effective action against Damascus.

Annan drew up a peace plan backed by the United Nations and the Arab League to steer a way out of the 14-month-old uprising against Assad. But six weeks after it was agreed by Damascus and the rebels, the bloodshed has barely slowed.

Annan told Assad of the “grave concern of the international community about the violence in Syria, including in particular the recent events in Houla”, his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement after two hours of talks in Damascus. (Source: Reuters) 

 

Posted in: International Tagged: artillery, Bashir Assad, canon, ceasefire, diplomacy, International, Kofi Annan, missile, Syria, U.N., United Nations
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