COP31 leaders try out new sales pitch for climate action: do it for the economy

Detailed summary

By Ezgi Erkoyun and Valerie VolcoviciANTALYA, Turkey, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Leaders at the COP31 summit in Turkey are trying out a new sales pitch for climate action that is tailored to the times: do it to bolster the economy and bring down the cost of living.The message, being repeated in the hallways and on the plenary stage of the annual UN conference, reflects efforts by organizers to capture the attention of…

ANTALYA, Turkey, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Leaders at the COP31 summit in Turkey are trying out a new sales pitch for climate action that is tailored to the times: do it to bolster the economy and bring down the cost of living.

The message, being repeated in the hallways and on the plenary stage of the annual UN conference, reflects efforts by organizers to capture the attention of governments wrestling with crises that have pushed global warming down the list of priorities.

Among those is rampant inflation driven in part by disruptions to Middle East crude oil shipments since the onset of the Iran war. Consumer price pressures from fuel to food were a major driver in the US midterm elections that handed control of Congress to Democrats, and are an important vulnerability for leaders across Europe, Asia and elsewhere.

"Three-quarters of humanity live in countries that import fossil fuels, hostage to price shocks they did not create and cannot control," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders attending the summit on Wednesday.

"Recent conflicts make clear that this is a recipe for chronic insecurity and a cost-of-living meltdown," he added, saying the clear solution is a shift to renewable energy.

Simon Stiell, head of the UN's climate office, made the same point. "Today, chaos in global energy markets and climate disasters are supercharging inflation, slamming government budgets, pushing household bills up and living standards down," he told the conference.

"The political costs of fossil fuel dependency are unforgiving.Climate action can help relieve the pressures."

John Kerry, a former US secretary of state who has been advocating for climate action for decades, said he liked the reframing of the issue.

Climate change has become a massively divisive political issue in recent years, including in the US, where President Donald Trump last year withdrew the world’s top historical greenhouse gas emitter from international climate cooperation after calling warming a…

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