The United Nations Hosts a Laughable ‘Emergency Meeting’

Always good for a laugh, if little else, one can always depend upon the U.N. to bring some joy to a rainy day, and it’s raining here in Prague. That mostly useless international organization is currently meeting in Brazil at COP 30, a memorialization of three decades doing nothing about man’s destruction of the planet.

It's unclear whether or not a bronze plaque was awarded for the anniversary.

COP 29, if memory doesn’t fail me, was tasked in Baku, Azerbaijan, to reach a global agreement on carbon markets, and establish a new financal goal. Baku aimed to mobilize at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035, with developed countries leading off with $300 billion. While progress was made on operationalizing carbon markets, (whatever that means) and initiating a technology implementation program (another non sequitur), the conference faced criticism for insufficient action on mitigation and a lack of concrete measures to phase out fossil fuels.

Oh my, the elephant remained safely tethered in the middle of the room, fed and allowed to poop on the floor by Big Oil.

While developed countries agreed in Baku to foot the bill for $300 billion, it was only if they didn’t have to actually lay out the cash for ten more years, proving that whatever happens in Baku, remains in Baku. The undeveloped world was left to come up with the other thousand billion, with no help from the elephant and no possibility of raising the cash. If the terms were reversed, there might have been hope.

But hold on, there’s a news flash from Brazil, and I may be about to announce a breakthrough.

“UN holds emergency talks over sky-high accommodation costs at Cop30 in Belem, Brazil,” claims both covering staff and agencies at the Guardian UK. Concerns are expressed, they go on to report, that “poorer countries could be priced out of negotiations in Belém, as room rates soar amid shortage.”

It’s clear to see why room rates might slow the pace of progress, when those ‘poorer’ countries are expected to come up with $100 billion, their first installment on the $trillion owed. It seems not to quell any concerns that complimentary breakfast is included. With a climate on fire, the ‘emergency’ is costs of attendance.

Thank god this emergency is being attended to, when all others have failed.

It’s difficult, I admit, to keep accommodation costs under control when the United Nations keeps holding such meetings in Baku and Belem, shielding global attention from the brighter lights of New York, Berlin and Paris. Rooms tend in short supply when meetings hide in lesser locations. Does Belem sctually have an airport, and where do attendees actually find a connecting flight?

My favorite quote from Sir Winston Churchill comes to the rescue once again—it seems to fit so many circumstances:

“You can always depend upon (America, the U.N., Israel, Donald Trump…insert your choice) to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other alternatives.”

Thank you, Sir Winston, your light burns as constantly and brightly as ever.

As onward the U.N. marches and backward it progresses.