Don’t give up on COP, but we need so much more. Make it personal

The climate and sustainability emergency is about to become an even greater battle. The 2024 COP29 UN summit showed in no uncertain terms that international agreements are, at best, guidelines—and aren’t even ambitious guidelines. The fossil fuel and defence industries are looking at green lights over the coming 4 years at least. So sustainability must now become personal. Anyone who cares and has a lever to pull must find as many partners as possible and act on their spheres of influence. We have the levers and influence in the Liberal Democrats—locally, nationally, and internationally.

After a heavy year of politics that included standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Lewisham West and East Dulwich, I attended COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, with my professional “Activist Analyst” hat on. My key takeaways, summarized below, are also huge opportunities for the Liberal Democrats at all levels.

Recommendations for the Liberal Democrats

• The Liberal Democrats must push the UK to lead on transition planning regulation and enforcement—in collaboration with any businesses and institutions who want to be a part of a positive solution. Regulation should start by focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as outcomes. The civil service needs to be capable of enforcing these regulations without the help of consultants. The Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) recently produced its final report: We need the Labour Government to put into place the Conservatives’ plans to implement these requirements for large businesses and financial firms. The finance sector needs to lead, as I outline below. And politics must partner with finance in clear outcome-focused partnerships pulling in as much business, civil society, and expertise as possible.

   

• The Liberal Democrats must push for the release of peaceful climate protesters and the repealing of anti-protest legislation. I don’t see any signs of this from the new Labour government… COPs need a minimum level of political freedom as I also discuss below. But the UK is not sat on a high horse.

   

• The Liberal Democrats must be clear that no new fossil fuels is the only option. Our manifesto needs to be far, far stronger on this front and produce clear roadmaps for a just transition to help oil and gas industry employees—and ensure the costs of the energy transition fall on the people and businesses who can afford them.

   

• The Liberal Democrats must champion ultra-ambitious contributions to funding climate adaptation and transitions globally.  I’ve seen lots of hate toward the Azerbaijan Presidency of COP29—for the final deal and fossil fuel lobbying—but less ambition from rich countries to go further than the agreement. COP is not a signal of maximum ambition. It should be the minimum. The UK earned some international credit back at COP29 in the leadership vacuum left by the US election and broader political paralysis in France and Germany—but Labour must build on this start and ensure its domestic targets are put into action. The UK’s leadership and ambition has to keep growing.

   

• The Liberal Democrats—and the world—can’t give up on COP: Global collaboration with allies is a must, even if we haven’t done enough yet.

   

• In summary, we all as Liberal Democrats can find our spheres of influence locally and nationally: By breaking down the global context and 17 UN SDGs, you can begin to think where your spheres of influence are. They could be your neighbourhood, your council, your Parliamentary seat… or they could be international if an example could be a story powerful enough to show sustainability works on all environmental, social, and economic fronts—to pull policy, consumer behaviour, and business along into alignment with the trajectories we need to meet. Here’s my separate outline, “We know how to solve sustainability: transition plan and find your critical mass”.

Broader COP29 takeaways

• Hosting COP in fossil fuel economies isn’t the problem. Freedom is. All countries must look in the mirror of their political freedoms and fossil fuel dependency—including the UK. (Full blog here). We didn’t do enough in Glasgow in 2021. We haven’t done enough since in Sharm El-Sheikh, Dubai, or in Baku this year. The UK and the entire rich world are fossil fuel economies as much as anywhere—historically and currently. But at least in 2021 I could call the Prime Minister a w*nker. I met so many professionals and activists at COP29 who were unwilling to publicly criticize the government of Azerbaijan while in the country for fear of reprisals. Speaking truth to power is a fundamental human right but also a vital necessity if we’re to come close to addressing the climate and broader sustainability emergency. Political freedom should be the minimum for hosting COP. And that goes for the rich, supposedly liberal world too, that continues to suppress climate activism by manipulating the law.
• The banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector must play matchmaker—and help its clients build and move along transition plans. Finance needs to stop complaining about risk—and be the solution that brings the ecosystem together, closes gaps, and aligns transition plans and roadmaps to share risk toward outcomes. The long-term mission hasn’t changed despite political turbulence. The BFSI industry can help its clients build and implement sustainability transition plans. The long-term opportunity and risk haven’t changed. BFSI knows that. It’s maybe the only industry that can properly think through the long term—or at least beyond the usual short-termism of quarterly reporting. I’ll be writing and working more on this soon.
• Low business engagement with COP29 risks a lost year; sustainability needs positive lobbying. We can’t wait until COP30. But many are, including in the private sector. COP29, the 2024 edition of the annual UN climate summit, saw a dramatic reduction in business engagement. Especially from the businesses—and vitally their people—that could make a positive contribution. Fossil fuel lobbyists didn’t go anywhere. In the absence of many world leaders and political ambition at COP29, businesses must collectively feed into policy and lobby positively for the measures needed to address the climate and broader sustainability emergency all year. Not only when a "sexy COP" comes around. Many are treating 2025’s COP30 in Brazil as the next milestone. Our environment, people, and economies can’t afford to lose a year of ambition and action. (Full report here).
• Ukrainian businesses at COP29 prove the positive outcomes of sustainability. Business leaders globally should look to their Ukrainian peers and consider what they might achieve for sustainability and their firms—when building on a baseline that isn’t an escalating invasion. The efforts of Ukraine’s businesses are increasingly proving sustainability is not a “nice-to-have” despite Russia’s invasion, but an overwhelmingly positive approach that leads to tangible outcomes for people, the environment, and the economy—now and for the country’s future. I was privileged to chair a discussion at Ukraine’s Pavilion at COP29 and will be producing a summary soon.
• Systems change through yoghurts: Often in addressing climate and sustainability we look for big spheres of influence. But one story told to me at COP29 by a senior NGO leader concerned systemic change in companies by starting small—and achieving the vital buy-in of the senior management team as to what outcomes can be achieved. In short, this food company had a yoghurt production line where finished, sealed yoghurts were opened, tested for quality control, and thrown away. Not many at all. But it struck some younger employees that this waste was unnecessary. By implementing a simple move to testing before sealing, that waste was eliminated, showing the senior management team that sustainability can have immediate positive benefits. Thereby opening up their ambition to other initiatives requiring more investment.
• Outcomes-based collaboration is a must: Despite a dominant AI narrative in most 2024 business conversations, it’s collaboration that always stands out in the stories of positive outcomes. That extends to success stories of sustainability at COP29. That collaboration must be based around shared outcomes—a mission (in recent Labour Party terms). It sounds trivial, but business leaders constantly come back to the failings and successes of their collaborations and often their lack of alignment toward shared goals: inside and outside their organizations—and involving governments.

Written by Josh Matthews, Activist Analyst, Practice Leader for Sustainability at HFS Research , Founder of Critical Mass for Sustainability PPC for Lewisham and VC of LibSTEMM