First dialogue for social participation at COP30 is held in the UK
The first Global Ethical Stocktake dialog took place in the UK on Tuesday (Jun. 24). The initiative is directed at social participation through a series of dialogues, each of which should produce a regional report, before a final document is drawn up and sent as external contribution to the climate negotiations in the Brazilian city of Belém, at the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change—COP30.
The meeting took place during London Climate Action Week and was the first of six that will be held on each continent of the planet.
“We need to listen to voices that have not been heard often enough in our preparations for tackling climate change,” said COP30 president-designate, Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago.
In attendance were around 40 guests—including young, black, and indigenous people, women, religious leaders, economists, and scientists. The assembly discussed climate deals aimed at tripling renewable energy, doubling energy efficiency, making the transition to an end to deforestation and the use of fossil fuels, as well as tackling the loss and damage to people and places.
“It’s a chance to ask questions and bring up inconvenient issues in order to create ethical embarrassment for companies, governments, different segments of society, and even for each of us, as individuals, and reflect on whether what we’re doing is consistent with the decisions we’ve made and with tackling climate change,” said Brazilian Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva.
Community
The dialogue in London was attended by people representing the whole European continent and was facilitated by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and a key figure in the fight for climate justice. After the debates, she highlighted the power of communities to bring more hope and justice to the transformation process.
“We’ll have a lot of ideas and proposals that will make their way to the negotiations and decision-making with an ethical outlook—not overriding them, but making negotiations more accessible. We have exceeded all deadlines, and now there’s only one watchword—implementation,” Minister Marina Silva concluded saying.
