A coalition of scientists, climate advocates, and policy leaders has called for an overhaul of the global climate policy process, urging the UN and its climate framework (UNFCCC) to shift from negotiation to implementation.
In an open letter addressed to UN member states and UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, they argue that the current framework is inadequate for meeting the 1.5°C warming threshold and securing planetary stability.
Signatories of the letter include influential figures such as Sandrine Dixson-Declève of Earth4All, Johan Rockström of the Potsdam Institute, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, and ex-Irish President Mary Robinson.
They emphasize that despite milestones like the Paris Agreement, the COP (Conference of the Parties) process lacks the tools for rapid, large-scale changes to avert catastrophic warming.
“After 28 COPs, time is up on negotiations that don’t foster action and implementation,” Dixson-Declève said, criticizing the current approach as a forum for delaying action and enabling fossil fuel contracts.
Recent reports, she noted, reveal alarming climate trends, including increased emissions and degraded carbon sinks, making reform urgent.
The group proposes seven key reforms for the COP process: improved host selection criteria, streamlined and frequent solution-driven meetings, enhanced accountability mechanisms, standardized climate finance tracking, greater scientific integration, acknowledgment of climate-poverty linkages, and restrictions on fossil fuel lobbyists.
Rockström, warning of the risk of surpassing 2.9°C warming by 2100, said, “Planet Earth is in critical condition.” He called for a policy approach capable of delivering change at an “exponential speed and scale.”
Figueres added that current representation disparities, with lobbyists outnumbering scientific and Indigenous delegates, hinder a just transition.
This call for change comes as COP29 convenes in Baku, where the host nation’s pro-fossil fuel stance has drawn criticism amid mounting calls for a reformed climate agenda.
