As COP29 climate talks progress, a group of prominent global leaders and scientists on Friday called for significant reform and overhaul in the UN Conference of Parties (COP) process.

In an open letter to United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell, UN member states and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the group called for major changes including "eligibility criteria [for host nations] to exclude countries who do not support the phase out/transition away from fossil energy."

The choice of Azerbaijan as the host of the current COP29 has faced criticism given the country's heavy reliance on oil and gas exports, which makes up half of its economy.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev opened the COP29 climate summit with a speech that called oil and gas a "gift from God," praising the use of natural resources. 

The COP28 conference was held in the United Arab Emirates and the meeting's leader kept his job as the head of the country's national oil company.

In the letter to the UN, the experts argued that the current COP framework is insufficient to meet the urgent needs of a warming planet.

Call for concrete action

The letter's signatories include former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and other experts representing organizations in the climate sector.

There were seven key reforms for COP highlighted in the open letter, which said it was time for COP to "shift away from negotiations to the delivery of concrete action."

The reforms included robust tracking of climate financing, integration of the latest scientific evidence, as well as "decisive action on equality, justice and poverty alleviation."

Another key point emphasized the need for governments to be held accountable, ensuring that their national action plans are aligned with the latest scientific evidence.

The group also highlighted the high number of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP summits. At least 1,773 coal, oil and gas lobbyists have been granted access to COP29, according to data released Friday by the Kick Big Polluters Out activist coalition. The group added that fossil fuel lobbyists received more passes to COP29 than all the delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined.

Former UN climate chief Figueres said at the last COP fossil fuel lobbyists outnumbered representatives of scientific institutions, Indigenous communities and vulnerable nations.

"We cannot hope to achieve a just transition without significant reforms to the COP process that ensure fair representation of those most affected," she said.

World on a path toward 2.7 degrees Celsius warming

The call for action comes at a time when temperatures globally have been on a rise, with continued emissions uptick, carbon sink degradation and worsening climate impacts.

According to Climate Action Tracker, a global team of scientists tracing government climate policies, with no new national climate targets or net zero emissions pledged in 2024, current policies continue to set the world on a path toward 2.7 degrees Celsius of warming by the year 2100.

Additionally, both fossil fuel use and land-use change, such as deforestation, are up from 2023 levels, the UK-based Global Carbon Project reported.

This comes when the world is grappling with the question of whether climate finance is reaching the most vulnerable even as fossil fuels are seeing record-breaking profits and trillions in investments.

As the letter's signatories point out, without urgent COP reform and financial accountability, there will only be further delays in tackling the climate crisis.

ss/sms (dpa, Club of Rome)