BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - NOVEMBER 11: Protesters, in an apparent reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, demonstrate on the opening day of the UNFCCC COP29 Climate Conference on November 11, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
There has been significant support for Palestine at COP29, with many delegates sporting their sartorial choice of a keffiyeh, the Arab headdress, draped around their shoulders as they walk around the conference halls.
Every day, the names of victims of Israel’s attacks are read out, drawing crowds chanting “Free Palestine”.
Each day, the Climate Action Network, a grouping of staunch Palestine supporters, has been giving out a “fossil of the day” award. The award has been a feature of the climate negotiations and the vote usually goes to a country seen as “blocking” negotiations.
On Tuesday evening, that award went to Costa Rica as condemnation for entering deals with Israel on water and the environment.
One group, the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine, is calling on countries to stop providing energy sources to Israel. It has asked governments to follow the example of Colombia, which ended coal sales to Tel Aviv in June 2024, “cutting off 70% of Israel’s supply used to power its electricity grid, including its illegal settlements, arms production and Israel’s murderous AI infrastructure”, according to a statement.
Although the group acknowledges South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, it is unhappy that the country is one of Israel’s biggest coal suppliers.
“I think this is really a stain on South Africa’s record and something that needs to be corrected as soon as possible,” said Naji Muhammad, who is part of the organising committee of the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine.
Tasneem Essop, the executive director of the Climate Action Network, noted that South Africa is considered a champion of the Palestinian cause both historically and as a result of its genocide case, but added: “You can’t be champions there but back home you’re literally fueling a genocide.
“The South African government has the power to stop this. It is unacceptable for them to be hypocritical and have a double standard,” she said.
Karabo Mokgonyana, of Power Shift Africa, said that by continuing to trade in coal, oil and gas with Israel, governments and corporations are complicit in fueling war crimes and apartheid.
“Colombia’s decisive action to end coal exports to Israel shows the power of cutting off the lifelines of oppression. Governments must impose an energy embargo on Israel immediately. Climate justice is incomplete without dismantling systems of violence that exploit people and the planet,” Mokgonyana said in a statement.
Muhammad said that if South Africa were to stop sending coal to Israel, it would send a message to other countries such as Nigeria and Brazil who are providing that country with energy sources.
He also called out Turkey for transporting oil to Israel through pipelines.
“These countries are all involved in speaking out for all Palestinian rights, and yet they sell Israel the means with which to kill us. And what we’re saying here is very straightforward and very simple. If you believe in international law and you believe in human rights and you believe in the cause of Palestine, you must take action that meets that,” Muhammad said.
Essop said COP29 is a perfect place to tackle such issues. “This is where the world gathers, governments of the world are here. Every opportunity we have as civil society to raise voices for Palestine in these multilateral spaces is important.”
Muhammad weighed in: “There’s this weird sense of normalcy that we have here at COP where people are walking around in their national dress, speaking about big issues to do with the world and the future of the world, all the while many of the states there are supporting the destruction of one UN member state and the destruction of the entire people and the land and everything that exists there.
“We think that the fighting for Palestinian Liberation is a fight for the future of humanity, and it’s one that we have to win, and the consequences of us not winning it are dire and horrifying and serious, and so this is just one arena in which some of these conversations happen, and I think it’s important for Palestine to be present in every single arena, popularly, in the media and in places like this.”
Essop argued that although climate change is a critical issue and an “existential threat”, Palestinians are also living through an existential threat, but governments have carried on with “business as usual”.
“If we can’t stand up to an existing existential threat, why would we expect governments of the world to really figure out how to prevent a climate-related one? If humanity can’t stand up for humanity, all we’re left with is despair.”
She said there is a clear link between climate rights and human rights. “There’s a growing recognition that the climate movement must be there standing side-by-side with the Palestinians.”
Muhammad said the main purpose of Israel’s attacks was to make Gaza uninhabitable.
“That means the destruction of more than three million trees, the destruction of around 60 to 70% of Israel of Gaza’s agricultural land, farms, greenhouses, water wells. It is the poisoning of the soil and the water with the heavy metals used in Israel’s bombing, the destruction of the sewage system, which has released mass amounts of sewage into the water, the poisoning of the air, the CO2 emissions that resulted from both the bombing the transport of all the materials used in the war, and that will come from the reconstruction of Gaza. Some calculations say the emissions are more than 170 countries annual CO2 emission outputs.”