In a side room on Wednesday, I sat down with Inger Andersen, the executive director of the UN environment programme, to discuss how the process could be reformed. The organisation is working with governments to streamline<\/a> the sprawling set of agreements and bodies that make up the global environmental calendar, in an attempt to improve their impact.<\/p>\n \u201cThe process is delivering but it\u2019s going too slowly. This is what the secretary-general [Ant\u00f3nio Guterres] said when he was here: \u2018Thank you. Good. Do more, but faster, because we are not where we want to be\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Implementation has always been one of the most challenging parts of any Cop process. Painfully negotiated agreements lack ways to meaningfully highlight which countries are falling behind or punish bad behaviour. It will always be up to national governments to deliver on their promises.<\/p>\n During the climate Cop29 in Azerbaijan in 2024, leading policy experts called<\/a> for a radical overhaul to climate summits, describing the process as \u201cno longer fit for purpose\u201d. They said they needed to shift from a focus on negotiation to implementation, and argued that only the most environmentally ambitious countries should host, although some in the group later walked back on that statement.<\/p>\n Even so, they are not alone in their calls for reform of the international patchwork of agreements and initiatives.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Down to Earth<\/p>\n The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, the environmental agenda is very cluttered. There are lots of meetings, important as each one is. It will be very interesting for members states to look at the issue. Let\u2019s begin with the easy stuff, like programmatic overlap between conventions, which has an energy-sapping effect,\u201d said Andersen.<\/p>\n \u201cWe identified the illegal wildlife trade back in the 70s as a problem, then we identified migratory species, then broader biodiversity, then wetlands. Each of these conventions came along at the right time, but we now have a plethora of them. Maybe we should think about that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n By the end of Friday, governments are scheduled to sign off an action plan to get back on target with this decade\u2019s biodiversity targets<\/a>. Few in Yerevan are expecting major moves. But without change soon, calls to reform the Cop process will only grow louder. The health of the planet demands it.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n Four years ago countries made a historic deal to save nature. Is it dead in the water?<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793351536_401_500.jpg\")
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World\u2019s climate fight needs fundamental reform, UN expert says: \u2018Some states are not acting in good faith\u2019<\/a>
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Cop summits \u2018no longer fit for purpose\u2019, say leading climate policy experts<\/a><\/p>\n