BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 22. As part of COP29 in Baku, Trend News Agency proudly presents COP for Hope, a special project offering an unparalleled platform to hear from world leaders and trailblazers in politics, economics, science, and ecology, all united by a shared commitment to addressing today’s pressing climate challenges.
Today, we are honored to speak with Malini Mehra, Chief Executive Officer, Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE).
In an exclusive interview with Trend on the sidelines of COP29, she pointed out that global legislators within the UN Climate process is the focal point for parliamentarians, for the parliamentary constituency.
"Throughout the year we raise awareness of members of parliament around the world, from Mongolia to Malawi, about what the COP process is, why climate change matters, how they can get involved. Our main message at COPs is always that parliaments make COPs count. Because the people that you see here are from the executive branch of government. There are two others, the legislature and the judiciary. And parliaments are very important, because they do three things. Number one, they create the legal frameworks that come out of these agreements," she said.
Second, as Mehra noted, parliamentarians exert oversight.
"They scrutinize the work of governments. Governments are held to account for the commitments that they make in these international conferences. And the third and the most important is about the money. This is a finance COP. They manage and approve budgets. This is where a vital aspect of their role comes into play: monitoring the funds to ensure that donor countries are effectively tracking the use of taxpayers' money—public money—in the recipient countries. The goal is to ensure these funds genuinely benefit the people they are meant to support.
Equally, if you are a Member of Parliament in a country which is receiving climate finance, climate assistance, climate investments, it's your role to scrutinize that this money is being used for the purposes intended.
And finally, it's very important that parliaments give their governments the mandate to agree on particular actions. That's where we are finding the biggest difficulty. Now, not all of the governments come here with a parliamentary mandate to agree to a certain goal. That makes the decision much more difficult, because they will have to go back to their countries and argue the case. That's why parliaments are essential to this process," she added.
GLOBE CEO praised the level of organization of COP29.
"In my mind, there are two things that you have to keep distinct. One is a metric for success for the country, and another is a metric of success for the negotiations. According to my metric of success, Azerbaijan should be very proud of itself. It has triumphed because it has provided a seamlessly well-organized professional COP. It has created a calm and respectful atmosphere for negotiators to work in and everybody else to learn from one another. From a logistical and professional point of view, it's been a triumph.
In terms of the negotiation, that's much harder because the presidency has its own negotiating priorities, but it's not in its gift to deliver them. That is where cooperation, collaboration from the parties comes in. Sometimes it's very hard to achieve. Even if we don't come out with a goal that pleases everybody, this will be a breakthrough COP," she said.
Further, speaking about the Troika initiative, which brings together the presidencies of COP28, COP29 and COP30, Mehra noted that it is a stroke of genius.
"Because in the past, every COP has had an informal process whereby the COP presidency hands over to the incoming presidency. And they work bilaterally. But by formalizing this COP Troika, it means that there has been a consolidation of the agendas. We have the continuity of agendas which came out of the Dubai COP. And you can see the commitment to methane reduction, the commitment to move beyond fossil fuels, the commitment to work on issues such as health, agriculture, which came out of those COPs. We find that presidency structure between the three means that all of these three issues will be addressed in an integrated way.
It is a very important initiative on multi-level, multisectoral pathways to make sure everybody becomes involved. And finally, it helps with the diplomacy. Because it means that in terms of securing the agreement of the parties, it's not just that one presidency's responsibility. It means that the three are working together to make sure that the process delivers a good outcome for the planet and a good outcome for the most vulnerable people," she said.
In conclusion, Mehra pointed out that parliaments have a crucial role to play in tacking the climate crisis.
"GLOBE has been involved in this process since the very beginning, since 1991, before the Rio Earth Summit. We were there at the infancy, at the birth of the climate convention. Parliamentarians have not always taken an interest in this issue. Next week they must hold hearings. Every parliament which is not in recess, but sitting, must ask the heads of delegation and their ministers to come before them in their chambers and report back on what they did. That begins that process of scrutiny. And then parliaments have a very important role this coming year because of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) 3.0. And these have to be very demanding because they have to cover the entire economy. They need to be climate transition plans for every economic sector, whether it's pharmaceuticals or whether it's fossil fuels. Parliaments must be involved in that process of review and the design of ambitious climate plans for next year," she added.
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