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AP: Agreeing to agree: Everyone must come to consensus at COP28 climate talks, toughening the process
Agreeing to agree: Everyone must come to consensus at COP28 climate talks, toughening the processBY SETH BORENSTEIN AND JAMEY KEATEN
Updated 5:22 AM EST, December 11, 2023
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — It’s the killer detail in international climate talks: Consensus.
With nearly 200 nations of different sizes, economies, political systems, resources and needs, they all have to find common ground if they are going to save the one common ground they share — planet Earth.
Consensus is frequently used to weaken efforts to curb climate change and experts say that’s by design, dating back to oil interests and the first United Nations climate negotiations. Some veteran politicians would like to change it, while others embrace it as the only fair way to get things done.
“Whatever decision is taken can only be as strong as what the least ambitious (nations) are prepared to accept,” said climate talks historian Joanna Depledge of Cambridge University. “And we’ve seen that over the years.”
…
Updated 5:22 AM EST, December 11, 2023
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — It’s the killer detail in international climate talks: Consensus.
With nearly 200 nations of different sizes, economies, political systems, resources and needs, they all have to find common ground if they are going to save the one common ground they share — planet Earth.
Consensus is frequently used to weaken efforts to curb climate change and experts say that’s by design, dating back to oil interests and the first United Nations climate negotiations. Some veteran politicians would like to change it, while others embrace it as the only fair way to get things done.
“Whatever decision is taken can only be as strong as what the least ambitious (nations) are prepared to accept,” said climate talks historian Joanna Depledge of Cambridge University. “And we’ve seen that over the years.”
…