Editor’s Desk: COP reform is happening quietly, behind the headlines

Share: X (Twitter) Facebook LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Print In the thick of the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in 2024, the UN climate talks were rattled a major PR disaster. The BBC, Reuters and The Guardian all carried headlines, attributed to leading climate policy experts, that the COPs were “no longer fit for purpose”.  The articles outlined a series of reforms called for in an open letter signed by 22 eminent scientists and politicians, including a former UN secretary-general and previous UN climate chief, with a further 150 lending their support. The headlines shook confidence in the COP process, just as governments were wrestling over a new climate finance goal. The Club of Rome - which handled the media relations for the letter - hurried to say that its “constructive, supportive ideas” had been "misinterpreted”. Negotiators kept calm(ish) and carried on, in the end landing the finance goal after some high-stakes drama on the final day. Log in here → Lots of our articles are free. This one isn't This story is exclusively available to paid subscribers. A free account gets you a selection of our reporting and our Climate Weekly . But a subscription gets you every story in full, our Bulletin emails from negotiations and conferences, two subscriber-only newsletters, and our monthly Editor’s column. £40/quarter → Or £130/year — best value. In the thick of the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in 2024, the UN climate talks were rattled a major PR disaster. The BBC, Reuters and The Guardian all carried headlines, attributed to leading climate policy experts, that the COPs were “no longer fit for purpose”.  The articles outlined a series of reforms called for in an open letter signed by 22 eminent scientists and politicians, including a former UN secretary-general and previous UN climate chief, with a further 150 lending their support. The headlines shook confidence in the COP process, just as governments were wrestling over a new climate finance goal. The Club of Rome - which handled the media relations for the letter - hurried to say that its “constructive, supportive ideas” had been "misinterpreted”. Negotiators kept calm(ish) and carried on, in the end landing the finance goal after some high-stakes drama on the final day. To my surprise, when I went back this week to read the letter again, I could not find the offending line about the COPs not being fit for purpose. The Club of Rome has yet to respond to my query about its disappearance.