It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie.
Guthrie returned to the Royal City last week from the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties (COP28), that recently wrapped up in Dubai. Guthrie is a member of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and was invited to the two-day Local Climate Action Summit (LCAS) that took place in Dubai during the conference.
This was the first-ever COP where the mayors took centre stage.
“The previous COPs in history have never included the (municipal) voice to the degree that they have been until this (year),” said Guthrie. “We were able to elevate and advocate the voices of cities to be included… in what’s being tabled for negotiations and what’s being asked for.”
Guelph taxpayers didn’t fork out the money for Guthrie’s trip to Dubai. It was instead paid for by Bloomberg Philanthropies, an organization founded by media mogul and former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg. Guthrie said it was Bloomberg’s idea to have local officials attend COP.
Bloomberg believes so much in the local leadership of governments, said Guthrie that he had mayors from around the world, go to the COP and covered their costs. Guthrie was one of over 500 mayors, governors, and other local leaders from over 60 countries at the LCAS. During the Mayors Innovative Studio, every one of the 150 attendees, including Guthrie, received special funding to be used for climate action back home.
“All the mayors that were there were given $50,000 to help with local youth climate engagement and action,” Guthrie said. “Once we go through that program, we automatically get another $100,000 to do even more engagement with youth for projects and initiatives on climate change.”
Guthrie also learned how to better lobby upper levels of government for the funding required to complete projects that will have a positive impact on the environment.
“Oftentimes, especially in Canada, there are tri-lateral agreements between the federal government, the provincial government, and municipalities,” he said. “When money is trying to flow from upper levels of government, it can get stalled when the federal government is trying to give something directly to municipalities and the province sometimes doesn’t like that.”
While everyone was talking green at COP28, there were those who questioned whether the conference should have actually taken place in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s biggest oil producers. Former US Vice-President and climate activist Al Gore was at the conference and criticized organizers for allowing representatives of the oil industry at COP28. He also slammed the selection of Sultan Al Jabber, CEO of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as president of the conference.
Guthrie, however, didn’t see Al Jabber or the presence of oil companies at the conference to be what Gore called a “conflict of interest.”
“It didn’t seem like lip-service to me,” said Guthrie. “When I listened to (Al Jabber) speak, I found him to be authentic in how we have to go faster and how we can make a difference.”
Guthrie added that it was better to have people with opposing interests at the table discussing how to address climate change than not to have that dialogue at all.