Media Talks Is it time to act? COP27 ends with much talk and little action despite media pressure 18.11.2022 12:13

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London – 30 press vehicles from 23 countries in the second week of COP27 – none from Brazil – published a joint post Its goal is climate justice.

The text, released on November 15, states: “Rich countries, instead of abandoning fossil fuels and embracing clean energy, are reinvesting in oil and gas, not promising to reduce emissions fast enough, and bargaining for the aid they receive to send to poor countries”.

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The debate over who will pay the bill has dominated the conversation since the early days of the UN summit in Egypt, which will be the subject of a special issue of MediaTalks, but consensus was reached on the last day of the conference. seems more and more out of reach.


President-elect Lula made world headlines, arguing that rich countries should finance the poorest countries that emit less CO2 and suffer the most from the consequences.

Some governments act as if the business is not up to them. This is the case in the UK. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak even announced that he would not go to Egypt. But he changed his mind after his predecessor, Boris Johnson, decided to appear there.

After Altar broke up with his former boss, the two became enemies. However, they seem to agree on one thing: The country does not want to put its hand in his pocket.

In a lightning-quick speech at COP27 last week, Sunak, who appears to be trying to escape the hot potato climate, used rhetoric that illustrates the gap between theory and practice. He said it was “morally correct” for the UK to honor its commitments. But he didn’t mention money.


Earlier, in an informal meeting, Johnson was more direct, adopting the “I owe-I don’t-refuse-but-I pay-when-I can” style.

He acknowledged that the country is “ejecting a horrendous amount of carbon into the atmosphere”, but said:

“What we cannot do is make up for it with some kind of compensation. We do not have the financial resources and neither can any country.”

The fight for climate justice at COP27

Many countries are being asked to reconsider their positions on this issue. loss and damage (losses and damages). And it may not be over when the curtain falls on Sharm el-Sheikh.

The editorial of 30 newspapers is a sign that some of the international media should not turn the issue off, seeing the climate crisis as a risk of tarnishing the image of governments and companies that do not live up to society’s expectations, scientists and activists.

The international newspaper The Guardian, one of the founders of the Covering Climate Now coalition, including MediaTalks, and perhaps the most dedicated to climate, gave half of its cover to the editorial and included it in the foreground. The page is full of layout symbolism.

This is more than a matter. It is “the” newspaper with a commitment to climate coverage that is published and updated regularly. And it contains more than 4,000 articles on climate, read by 65 million people in 2021.

Close The Guardian COP27 climate change editorial

Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of The Guardian, which led the movement, said in a report on the initiative that the editorial “is a powerful demonstration of how news organizations around the world can come together to collaborate in the public interest”.

The text says the 30 people who published the manifesto have a shared vision of what needs to be done, and criticizes nations that have taken little action to mitigate the effects of changes in environmental disasters recorded this year. And he points out that the same nations continue to invest in fossil fuels, a trend called the “new gold rush.”

The editorial calls for US$100 billion a year investment by the richest countries and a tax on the combined profits of the largest oil and gas companies.

A Strange Cop, but on the media’s radar

COP27 started off somewhat oddly, with the crackdown on Egypt for human rights abuses and restrictions on street demonstrations that were inconsistent with the desire for climate justice. Many global leaders and Greta Thunberg, who seemed like a sign of deflation, did not go.

It is a fact that not all countries see the prominent coverage of COP27 in the local media.

An example is the USA. On Tuesday, when the editorial was published, none of the most influential papers—the Washington Post, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune—made headlines or even footnotes about the UN conference.

Of the nation’s leading newspapers, only the Miami Herald has republished the editorial. In addition to these, The Nation magazine, co-founder of Covering Climate Now and Rolling Stone.

However, conference discussions are closely followed in other countries, including Brazil. The presence of former Minister Marina Silvia and President-elect Lula received positive attention in the international media during COP26, in contrast to the criticism directed at Brazil.

in an interview for Special COP27 Researchers from MediaTalks, United Nations University’s Climate Resilience Initiative leader Sanae Okamoto and Nidhi Nagabhatla from the same university, pointed out that the role of the media as an opinion leader on the climate crisis is a social and moral obligation.

They also recommended careful handling of the issue: “Making sure that the facts about climate change are reported clearly, emphasizing the truth, risks and solutions to mitigate its impacts”.

source: Noticias

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