COP climate conferences have become ‘meaningless rituals,’ says economist
It’s time for the United Nations to completely re-think its annual climate change conference, says economist Jayati Ghosh.

Ghosh, a frequent advisor to the UN, is one of several prominent climate experts and former UN and world leaders who have signed an open letter calling on the organization to completely overhaul the annual event that brings delegates from member countries together to tackle climate change.

This year’s conference, COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, has been particularly fraught with controversy.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev opened the conference by calling his country’s oil reserves “a gift of God.”