Why COP27 Needs a Bigger Circus and More Solar Panels
Four ways to improve UN climate conferences
A young climate activist holding a placard reading "Save our planet" during a protest march on the "Youth Day" at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, U.K., on Nov. 5.
Photographer: Jonne Roriz/BloombergI vividly remember attending my first UN climate talks in 2008. I remember the optimism, the technical conversations, the discussions about the overpriced food in the conference center, the press, the flight, and yes, the debates about the carbon footprint of the flight.
I flew to Accra as part of the delegation of the Environmental Defense Fund, to attend one of the many formal preparatory meetings leading up to the big December talks in Poznan, Poland: COP14 — the 14th Conference of the Parties — which was, in turn, largely meant as a build-up for COP15 in Copenhagen. By now, of course, COP26 has come and gone, and there will be COP27, and many more yet to come. Where to go from here?