Environmentalism for the rich

As COP30 approaches in Brazil, there is growing disillusionment for drama dressed up as diplomacy. These conferences have become rituals. Polluters arrive with carefully worded pledges. Governments shake hands on stage but the real deals are made behind closed doors and they tend to prioritise profits over people. Turning climate into a commodity has served the powerful and punished the poor. Carbon markets have let polluters keep polluting, covered in language that sounds progressive but solves nothing.

Economically, the COP summits support a neoliberal model of green capitalism, carbon trading and emissions offsets that commodify the atmosphere while absolving wealthy polluters of accountability. Market-backed solutions have failed to cut emissions but are revived again and again at the expense of science-backed, equity-centred solutions. If COP 30 continues the trend of choosing comfort over courage, it will fail its purpose and the climate, which has already crossed several points of no return, will sink further into the abyss.

Muhammad Shahjahan Memon

Islamabad