Walking Back From Paris

ECO is shocked – shocked! – that developed countries are trying to renegotiate the Paris Agreement and re-write the Paris language. It’s only been three years, delegates! You can’t have forgotten those late nights and hard-fought paragraphs already. And, even if you have, since the UNFCCC updated their website it’s really quite easy to find the Paris Agreement. Scroll down to Article 8 (you”ll find it after – and not under – Article 7) and there, in full colour, you will read the words “addressing loss and damage”, “irreversible and permanent” and enhancing finance on a “cooperative and facilitative basis”.

You may feel that you’re being clever with all this language jiggery-pokery, but what you are are being is short-sighted, hard-hearted and working against ALL of our interests. You can’t write “loss and damage” out of existence. Loss and damage will affect us all, but its burden is disproportionally carried by the poorest and most vulnerable. We, as humanity, all suffer if we don’t live up to previous promises to address the worst impacts of climate change that are facing the most vulnerable. That would leave an irreversible and permanent stain on our souls.