The UK’s Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband believes these meetings have delivered real progress by getting countries to engage with tackling climate change and enact policies that have made the renewable revolution possible.
“It’s dry, it’s complicated, it’s anguished, it’s tiring,” he says – “and it’s absolutely necessary”.
Many now do, however, accept there is a strong argument for these international gatherings to be scaled down.
Ultimately, however, the real choice underlying it, for so many nations in attendance, simply comes down to the extent to which they align with a China-led clean energy revolution – or double down on the fossil fuels–first agenda.
Which is why many observers say the process of decarbonisation is going to be less about the multi-country commitments of COPs past, and far more about big-money deals between individual countries as we look ahead to this year’s summit – and how COPs may well play out in the future.
Top picture credit: Getty Images
