MULTILATERALISM FACES EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

WHEN Union minister for environment Bhupender Yadav returned from Brazil after the Climate Change conclave — COP30~—he said in an interview it was a victory for multilateralism.

- GURBIR SINGH

The conclave had provided the structure for the rich nations to keep their promises for increased funding against global warming, he claimed. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Multilateralism, or the collective forums of nations, has been the desired route to a global vision for the planet. Multilateral decisions provide common ground for the world’s progress. They also undercut to some extent parochial and regional pulls.

However, seeing what happened at COP30 and the G20 summit at Johannesburg recently, multilateralism seems to be evaporating fast. Much of the blame can be put at the door of the US’ Trump regime and its Make-America-Great-Again (MAGA) ideology; but every nation, every region is pulling hard to ensure its end.

The fossil fuels wall

As the curtains came down last Saturday on the 30th annual Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, participants realized that the principal target — the phasing out of fossil fuels - remained elusive as the oil producing countries put up a stubborn wall against any mention of the subject in the conclave’s final resolution.

For the first time, at COP28 in Dubai, after much wrangling, the aim of ‘transitioning away from fossil fuels’ was slipped in. However, opposition from the oil and gas nations led by Saudi Arabia and Russia has ensured that COP29 at Azerbaijan and COP30 at Belem would avoid the subject. The US by choice kept away from COP30, and president Trump minced no words on Climate Change talks calling them a ‘con job’.