For many, the advent of the 29th UN Cop has elicited as much despair as hope – especially with the long shadow of the US election result darkening proceedings. Add in the grim irony of its setting in Baku, Azerbaijan – capital city of a petrostate maxing out on fossil fuel production – and it didn’t take a no-show by Greta Thunberg to conclude (to paraphrase Kafka) that there’s hope … but not for us.
Yet there’s a new kid on the block, the GFCBCA – one more acronym to add to proceedings already blighted by alphabet soup. The Group of Friends of Culture-Based Climate Action is an initiative by a series of states seeking “a place at the table” for culture in the final conference statement. Sorry guys, I’m not holding my breath.
It’s easy to be cynical about Cop-culture. But these summits are the only game in town for global collective action so the GFCBCA initiative is welcome, even if its manifesto…