Alexandria Villaseñor, founder of Earth Uprising, explains why COP27 opened with a call for wealthy nations to renew their financial commitment to the Global South, and the significance of Africa being the host continent. Villaseñor also speaks about why youth activists aren't satisfied with the conference's approach to climate action, and what's next now that the terms of the Paris Agreement are no longer enough to limit global warming.

Climate Action Gets the Spotlight as COP27 Kicks Off in Egypt

and the 2022 United Nations climate change conference is kicking off in Egypt and joining us now to break down what's happening is alexandria via senior climate activist and founder and executive director of earth uprising alexandria, thank you so much for joining us between the warring europe global inflation and the lingering pandemic. Is climate action a lower priority for nation so far this year. What's your read on this? Um Well, I think for um I think for all three of those things, the war in europe and global inflation and the pandemic have the climate crisis as one of their root causes right now. It's like humanity is sick and all we're focusing on is the symptoms and not the cause of illness. Um The war in Ukraine is about resources like oil and food and Ukraine is one of the bread baskets of the world and we can see that Russia is focusing on the grain producing areas of Ukraine and of course when our planetary resources are at risk or becoming depleted, everything costs more. And we'll see more pandemics as a result of the climate crisis. And and I actually think that um it's so important to see how everything is interconnected. And um when we talk about the climate crisis, we get, we need to get to the root of all of these issues. You know, the conference really began with a call for wealthy nations to pay that $100 billion south. So are they actually prepared to do. So I actually think that um though, I think what we talked about before is actually connected to loss and damage um and which is the 100 I mean the $100 billion pledge to the global South and and no, I don't think wealthy nations are prepared to do this and we have to change that alright in Africa by the way, the continent most vulnerable to the effects of climate change that despite contributing very, very few emissions. The conferences in Egypt. So what is the significance of hosting it there, cop 27 was hosted in Egypt to really bring attention to how the climate crisis is affecting the African continent. But I think holding it in an insulated resort town has been um hasn't really been effective being here in Sharm el Sheikh with its resorts and its tourism has made sure the delegates are distanced from the effects of the climate crisis instead of considering how the people here are affected. And it's also been hard to get civil society into Egypt from other African countries And there have been uh issues with getting Africans visas to enter Egypt or getting um Africans U. N. Accreditation to attend the conference. And so we really need to work on the inclusion at cop and it's been an issue for years, but especially this one, let's talk about youth climate activist Greta thunberg, she called this event greenwashing, lying and cheating. I mean you work closely with youth climate activists, why do some believe that this conference just doesn't do enough here? Well, first of all there, right, the conference doesn't go far enough and never has considering every year for the past 27 years, greenhouse gas emissions have risen. It's like cop hasn't made a difference at all. And there is a lot of greenwashing here. Um, for example, coca cola is sponsoring the conference and they're also the largest plastic producer in the world. And plastic manufacturing is responsible for over 5% of global emissions. And so activists definitely, we have reason to believe that this event is about greenwashing and not telling the truth, but that doesn't mean that we should give up. And this is also the space where young people in civil society have the opportunity to be face to face with world leaders and decision makers and make our demands clear. And that's an opportunity we should take every chance we get. Well, the Paris agreement in 2015 is held as one of the biggest achievements in the conference is history. But this share. You know, these mission reports said that the goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C is no longer possible within the terms of the deal. So what's the path forward? So countries haven't met their commitments that they made in the paris agreement. And I think the path forward is some kind of fossil fuel and the non proliferation treaty. We need to stop emissions at their source. And there is no future with oil and gas, we need to stop building new oil and gas infrastructure and start dismantling the oil and gas infrastructure that we have right now. And that's going to take some kind of enforceable treaty. Mm, Well, let's hope we get there again. Thank you alexandria for breaking all that down to us and.