It is easy to criticise the UN climate conferences. But unless you\u2019ve been, there\u2019s one wonderful, almost miraculous, thing that you may not be aware of: it is a beautiful gathering of humanity, people from virtually every country on Earth, all thrown together in common cause.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, many are incredibly smart, passionate and dedicating their lives to fighting the climate crisis. The more of them you meet, the more your hope grows that global heating can be defeated.<\/p>\n
So I want to introduce you to just two of them I\u2019ve met here at Cop30 in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil. The first is an extraordinary firebrand orator from Panama, whose uncompromising clarity shines through the dim halls of Cop. \u201cWe are literally paying criminals to kill us [by] giving subsidies to fossil fuel producers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The second is one of the brightest young climate activists I have ever met, and she has a new project that may just change the world.<\/p>\n
More from these two inspiring young people, after today\u2019s climate headlines.<\/p>\n
Essential readsIn focusJuan Carlos Monterrey-G\u00f3mez, special representative for climate change for Panama, at Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, last year. Photograph: Murad Sezer\/Reuters<\/p>\n
Juan Carlos Monterrey G\u00f3mez is the special representative for climate change for Panama. You\u2019d spot him easily at Cop by his trademark hat. Cop30 here in Brazil has been dubbed the \u201cCop of Truth\u201d by Brazilian president
Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, meaning now is the time to face up to the reality of the climate crisis.<\/p>\n
Monterrey-G\u00f3mez picked up this challenge in his peerless way: \u201cThese are the truths that we really need to internalise in this \u2018Cop of Truth\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTruth number one, we\u2019re failing. The objective of the UN climate convention is to stabilise greenhouse gases. But in the past 33 years, instead of cutting them, we have more than doubled. If we look at biodiversity, we\u2019re on a pathway to assassinate half of all living creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTruth number two is that we don\u2019t need more reports, dialogues, committees of experts, roundtables. The science is quite clear. Fossil fuels are making the planet hotter and the best way to stop that heating is to phase them out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTruth number three is that the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, the land crisis, the ocean crisis, the plastic pollution crisis, they\u2019re all the same crisis. They are the product of an economic system that favours unhinged production, that pollutes everything in its way to the detriment of humans.\u201d<\/p>\n
His final truth: \u201cWe are literally paying criminals to kill us. We\u2019re giving subsidies to fossil fuel producers, when we know everything they produce kills us, quickly or slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monterrey-G\u00f3mez said Cop30 must deliver a clear statement on the phase-out of fossil fuels. It took 28 years of Cops for them to even get a mention, thanks to obstruction from petrostates. \u201cIf we cannot even mention fossil fuels, if we cannot commit to protect forests, what the heck are we doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Ayisha Siddiqa, far right, and other panellists at a discussion during Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022. Photograph: Thomas Hartwell\/AP<\/p>\n Ayisha Siddiqa (pictured above right, back at Cop27 in Egypt) is an American-Pakistani law student in Los Angeles, who at 26 has already, among other things, been an adviser to the UN secretary general and a commissioner for the International Energy Agency.<\/p>\n