The UN’s climate talks have made significant progress in recent years, despite the fact that unanimous agreement is needed among almost 200 countries to take action.
The Paris climate agreement, signed in 2015, outlines a long-term plan to rein in rising temperatures, as countries strive to keep that rise under 1.5C this century.
They have also agreed to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, and to treble renewable power by 2030.
But while the authors of this letter recognise these achievements, they feel that the slow-moving COP process is “no longer fit for purpose” in dealing with a fast-moving climate crisis.
“Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity,” said its signatories. They include former UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and former president of Ireland Mary Robinson.
This year will likely be the warmest on record, with emissions of planet warming gases still rising, while the impacts of warming often outpace the ability of countries to cope.
“Planet Earth is in critical condition,” said leading climate scientist Johan Rockström, another signatory.
“There is still a window of opportunity for a safe landing for humanity, but this requires a global climate policy process that can deliver change at exponential speed and scale,” Prof Rockström said.
The letter has been prompted by growing concerns about some of the countries chosen to host COP talks and their ability to deliver a significant advance in the fight against rising temperatures.
Just before the latest conference started, a secret recording showed the chief executive of Azerbaijan’s COP29 team, Elnur Soltanov, discussing “investment opportunities” in the state oil and gas company with a man posing as a potential investor.
At the start of COP29, the country’s authoritarian leader, Ilham Aliyev, defended Azerbaijan’s current exports of gas and plans to expand production by a third in the next decade.
“It’s a gift of God,” he told an audience in Baku.
“Every natural resource whether it’s oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, all that are natural resources,” he said.
“And countries should not be blamed for having them and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market because the market needs them, the people need them.”
The use of oil and gas are major causes of global warming, as they release planet-warming gases like carbon dioxide when they are burned.
President Aliyev also hit out at France for carrying out colonialist “crimes” and “human rights violations” in overseas territories.
