BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 13. The discussion on climate change needs to be rethought, former Deputy Minister of the Environment of Poland, COP24 President, Michał Tadeusz Kurtyka said, Trend reports.
He made the remark at the panel discussion “Beyond Negotiations: The Fight for COP Sustainability” as part of the 13th Global Baku Forum on "Bridging Divides in a World in Transition."
According to him, in 1992, when the Conference of the Parties was organized, humanity could plan its future without the burden of traditional existential threats.
"Today, the situation is completely different. We have COVID, diseases, wars - not one, but a whole series of conflicts, there are threats of famine and energy security. All elements of traditional human problems are relevant again. We need to rethink the discussion of climate change and make it more comprehensive by including modern challenges, otherwise we risk becoming less and less effective," Kurtika said.
He stressed that the approach needs to be completely revised: we can no longer say that people can go hungry but are obliged to meet emission reduction targets, or that they can live in unsafe conditions if oil and gas production is stopped.
“We have extremely difficult challenges ahead of us, but if we don't tackle them and place climate change in the broader context of the challenges facing humanity in 2026, the process will become less and less effective,” Kurtyka said.