AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Tens of thousands of people are gathering in Antalya, Turkey, for U.N. negotiations on climate change - COP31. These annual talks have been going on for more than three decades. In that time, the planet has only gotten hotter. That raises the question, what's the point of all this talking? NPR climate editor Rachel Waldholz joins us now. Hi, Rachel.
RACHEL WALDHOLZ, BYLINE: Hi, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So another year, another U.N. climate conference. What is the point?
WALDHOLZ: Yeah. This is a question I ask myself every year as I'm preparing to spend two weeks following the ins and outs of U.N. climate negotiations. You know, the big idea behind COP is that climate change is a global problem, and it requires a global solution. No one country can manage it on their own.
So you have countries like the U.S. and in Europe and now China, as well, which are responsible for most of the past pollution that has caused global warming. You have countries like India and Indonesia whose emissions have been growing.
And then you have developing countries that have hardly contributed to climate change at all that are (ph) dealing with some of the worst impacts, you know, just like the massive flooding that we saw in Nepal this year. And those countries need money. They need money to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to deal with the damage they're already experiencing.
And so the goal of COP climate talks comes down to, like, those two things - finding the money and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which mainly means transitioning away from fossil fuels - like coal, oil and gas - and is not easy.
RASCOE: President Trump calls climate change a hoax and a con job, a scam. Is the U.S. playing any role at all this year?
WALDHOLZ: The U.S. will not be taking part in the talks this year, and that's because the Trump administration announced last year that it would withdraw from the U.N. climate negotiations altogether. The State Department says the U.S. isn't sending anyone to Turkey.
And if you talk to negotiators for other countries, the attitude towards the U.S. is often sort of can't live with them, can't live without them. Historically, the U.S. has been at the negotiating table, and other countries often found it very frustrating because the U.S. blocked a lot of climate efforts over the years. But the U.S. was also instrumental in getting the Paris Climate Agreement, sort of the biggest success of these talks so far.
So ultimately, the U.S. is the second biggest climate polluter after China. It's the world's biggest economy. It's really hard to make progress when it's not in the room.
RASCOE: So are these negotiations having any impact?
WALDHOLZ: I mean, the world is making progress. You know, after years of growing steadily year over year, global greenhouse gas emissions this past year were basically flat, although U.S. emissions did tick up. And some countries have actually managed to cut their emissions, including countries in the European Union. It looks like China's emissions have plateaued or might be dropping. And renewable energy is growing way faster than anyone thought was possible a decade ago.
We now have the Iran war, which is prompting these major shifts in the global economy, and that's spurring some countries to invest in electric vehicles, more wind and solar power, battery storage - what are called electrification technologies. It's just that right now, none of these changes are happening fast enough to avoid, frankly, pretty disastrous levels of warming in the decades ahead.
RASCOE: So, Rachel, what are you going to be watching for this year?
WALDHOLZ: One key issue this year is, can countries agree to speed up that transition away from fossil fuels? Can they electrify more of their economies? And the other is, can they find more creative ways to provide climate finance to the countries that need it? And I'll also be watching to see if players like China or potentially the European Union can step into that gap left by the absence of the U.S.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Rachel Waldholz. Thank you so much.
WALDHOLZ: Thanks, Ayesha. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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