New York, Sept. 25 (BUS): For the new UN climate chief, the battle is personal.
As a former engineer who says he knows “how to make things work and get things done”, this was not only what Simon Steele did before becoming a top UN official, it was the place.
Stiell was the minister for the environment and climate resilience of the small island nation of Grenada until he started his job as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change a few weeks ago, according to the Associated Press.
His job now is to make sure that the world cuts about half of the emissions of greenhouse gases that help cause frequent, unprecedented climate catastrophes in just eight years, or as he puts it, two World Cups or Olympics.
“Living half my life in a climate-weak country gives me a deep appreciation,” Steele, 53, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’ve lived through two hurricanes (Evan in 2004 and Emily in 2005). I’ve seen my country get flattened by hurricanes. I’ve seen sea level rise around my ankles…I’ve also been in government finding solutions and being responsible as the main policy maker on how to build a nation More flexible with our limited resources.
And Grenada, which has incurred losses that doubled its annual GDP, is not alone. In Pakistan, for example, a third of the country is under water.
“Billions of dollars in damages, lives lost, and millions homeless. How do they recover from this?” Steele asked from the tenth floor of the United Nations Headquarters overlooking the East River. He said rich polluters would have to pay to help poor countries that are victims of climate, like his own.
Stiell said polluters who pay for what their emissions have done are as important as cutting off what goes out of chimneys and exhaust pipes. The high emitting countries paying the poor and the weak and the so-called “losses and damages” in the world of climate negotiations are now very important, one of the four pillars of the fight against climate change.
Others are working to reduce emissions, adapt to a warmer and brutal world, and rich countries financially help poor countries develop green energy and adapt.
“Loss and damage must be addressed,” Steele said. “It’s a very difficult conversation, but one that has to be had. Attitudes over the years have softened the lack of acceptance and refusal to discuss this to a point where it is now the agenda items for negotiations. So this is a step forward.”
Several years ago, rich nations pledged to spend $100 billion annually to help poor nations to help them adapt to climate change and develop cleaner energy systems, but not as compensation for damages. But even those pledges, especially from the United States, have not been fulfilled. Stiell hopes they get close.
Coming from a country heavily affected by climate gives him “a deep understanding,” but Stiell says his new job means “I also have to take into account the positions of some of those richer nations” and bring everyone together.
Poor countries see an ally.
“It’s a huge undertaking, and it’s nice to see someone from a climate-prone country take the lead. As someone from Grenada, they don’t need to be reminded of what’s at stake,” said Mohamed Addo of Power Shift Africa think tank.
“For too long, global North views have dominated the climate conversations and led to slowdowns and inaction. We are beginning to see that change, but it really needs to be accelerated.”
Since 2015, small island states with small economic and political power have used their moral authority to extract major concessions from the rest of the world, said longtime climate negotiation analyst Alden Meyer of the E3G think tank.
In the Paris 2015 agreement, small island states forced the rest of the world to agree to a stricter temperature target to limit warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) since pre-industrial times and a mechanism that would require nations to increase their emissions. Meyer said cut the goals every five years.
“They have a clear moral authority and show they can put pressure on the big players,” Meyer said.
Stiell lives outside a hotel in Germany, where the United Nations climate agency is based, until international climate negotiations in Egypt in November. He is not so focused on the gains from the upcoming climate talks as on something long-term.
He said he’s aiming for 2030 and the need to make significant reductions in pollution to prevent temperatures from exceeding the 1.5-degree target which seems less likely because it is only a few tenths of a degree away and rapidly approaching. The world has already warmed 1.1°C (2°F) since pre-industrial times.
“We tend to look at incremental progress,” Steele said. “Incremental progress will not provide us with the transformational transformations we need.”
Steele said taking that 2030 goal and “working backwards will really increase the pressure.” “So, it doesn’t mean let’s kick the can on the road. It’s just the opposite. It puts the can forward at our feet…it’s almost time we run out.”
Steele said that because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis it has triggered, countries have rolled back their commitments to phase out coal. “But we hope this is a temporary regression and those countries will accelerate as the crisis wanes, which is what will happen,” he added.
The United States, the second largest carbon polluter, has taken a “big step forward” and is sending a signal to the rest of the world with the inflation-reduction law that President Joe Biden signed into law this summer. Steele said China, the largest carbon emitter, is doing more as well.
“Is it as far as they need it? Is it as fast as they need it? No, but that takes a team effort,” Steele said.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres regularly raises the tone of the rhetoric. This week, he called on states to impose a windfall profit tax on fossil fuel companies that could then be used to help compensate victims of climate change and people facing soaring energy and food prices.
Steele said Guterres’ role is that of a “truth-based” one in carrot-and-stick negotiations with countries, while his new job is that of arbiter “bringing the parties together”.
“It’s hard. It’s frustrating,” Steele said. “But ultimately the primary focus is achieving this goal of limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees. This requires extraordinary measures.”