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Patricia Espinosa, the outgoing U.N. climate chief, admits that colliding crises exacerbated by the war in Ukraine have complicated efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions — but warns that we don’t have the luxury of time when it comes to the “biggest threat to humanity.”
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Also in today’s edition: Protesters make their presence known at the HIV/AIDS conference in Canada, and the disappointment of OECD's climate finance report.
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Today’s perfect storm of fuel, food, and financial crises is “definitely one of the most difficult scenarios that we have seen for decades,” says Patricia Espinosa, who last month ended her six-year tenure as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
My colleague William Worley did a wide-ranging interview with Espinosa for a Devex Newsmaker event, where she talked about the record-shattering weather events sweeping the world, the trauma they’re inflicting on those most affected, and the need for political leadership to address what she calls “the biggest threat to humanity.” While the war in Ukraine has driven a wedge between Russia and much of the rest of the world, every country must be part of the response to climate change, she explained,
She said that leadership was on display at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference last fall 2021 — and will be just as important for COP 27 in Egypt this November.
“We need to have everybody on board because climate change does not recognize any borders.”
Read: Former UNFCCC chief Espinosa on what it will take for COP 27 to succeed
Watch: What’s next for global cooperation on climate change?
+ Devex is taking a break next week, but look out for a deep dive on climate change and the food crisis from my colleague Teresa Welsh.
Cold shoulder
The urgency of climate change is not translating into more money to tackle the problem. My colleague David Ainsworth reports that climate finance increased only slightly in real terms in 2020, according to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The figures are a dismal reminder that high-income nations haven’t been living up to their commitments to provide $100 billion in annual climate funding to low- and middle-income countries by 2020.
That annual total — agreed to at COP 15 in Copenhagen — is now not expected to be reached before 2023. And that's assuming there isn’t any more backsliding
Read: OECD report reveals little progress on climate funding
Balancing the books
At Devex World last month, green investor Hari Balasubramanian pointed out to David that philanthropic foundations should be careful that their stock market investments don’t cancel out the good work they’re trying to do.
Balasubramanian, who is also a co-founder of EcoInvestors Capital, points out that philanthropic investors typically give away around 5% of their money each year, while 95% is invested in stock markets and similar assets. But if those investments go to companies damaging the environment, philanthropists may be doing more harm than good.
Watch: How philanthropic foundations can invest to improve the planet
+ Catch up on all of our coverage of Devex World 2022, and Devex Pro members can read about trust-based philanthropy. Not gone Pro yet? Start your 15-day free trial.
Voices heard
On Monday, at AIDS2022 in Montreal, protestors interrupted the HIV/AIDS division director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Demetre Daskalakis, as he prepared to deliver remarks about the monkeypox outbreak.
They took over the stage chanting "share the shots" and waved placards reading “Biden You Failed the Mpox Response.” Civil society groups want to see a clear plan to scale up monkeypox vaccine and treatment access from the World Health Organization, as well as emergency funding for the global response to monkeypox from President Joe Biden's administration. They say neither has happened yet.
CONTENT MANAGERS - CAN YOU PULL A SCREENSHOT FROM THIS?
https://twitter.com/AIDS_conference/status/1554122911589474304?s=20&t=1YUbeXi13eCvZ9KpT_BSow
At the world's largest conference on HIV/AIDS, there's an unmistakable tension between the formal institutions that hold sway over policies and resources and the AIDS community's deep roots in protest and community organizing. One organizer told my colleague Michael Igoe that activists are still coming to grips with what public demonstration looks like during a pandemic — but multiple attendees noted that every step of progress in the fight against HIV has come out of protest.
Many of those now in power recognize that too: Daskalakis acknowledged the protestors and the importance of community response when he eventually reclaimed the podium.
Background reading:
- AIDS conference exclusion is 'unjust' and 'wrong,' says UNAIDS chief
- The massive AIDS conference that soured before it began
Foul shot
While protesters in Canada were shouting about high-income countries hoarding shots, Transparency International’s Jonathan Cushing writes in an op-ed for Devex that vaccine inequity is only half the story.
The other half? “Vaxtortion” or corruption-related barriers to health care being documented in many of the world’s low-income nations. In Uganda, for example, Transparency International found that almost 1 in 10 Ugandans had paid bribes to access COVID-19 vaccines.
Cushing argues that a WHO medicine pricing database could help avoid “vaccine apartheid” during future pandemics.
Opinion: How to eradicate ‘vaxtortion’ ahead of the next pandemic
ICYMI: How to get vaccines to poorer countries quicker in the next pandemic (Pro)
+ For more content like this, sign up for Devex CheckUp, the must-read weekly newsletter for exclusive global health news and insider insights.
In other news
An NGO’s campaign against “white saviorism” implodes amid accusations of white privilege. [The Guardian]
After a two-year delay, the U.N. nuclear disarmament summit kicked off in New York Monday, amid growing tension among major powers over the war in Ukraine. [Deutsche Welle]
U.S. lawmakers have filed a bill seeking to bolster the State Department's expertise on China. [Axios]
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About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
