Glimmers of an action plan

As finance remains modest and climate-induced disasters wreak havoc across the globe, Pakistan, like the rest of the Global South, struggles to stay afloat, making do with whatever scant resources it has to take on mitigation and adaptation projects. Despite the urgency and severity of climate disasters, progress on climate action moved at a snail’s pace at the national and global levels. The flagship United Nations conference, COP29, in Baku, fell victim to the cynicism and self-righteousness of the Global North, and the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) of $0.3 trillion was short of a conservative estimate of $1tr required for effective climate action. The duplicity of these talks was aptly portrayed by Danish artist Jens Galschiot through his sculpture of Justitia, the Western goddess of justice. The sculpture, a highlight of the conference, showed Justitia sitting on top of a scrawny person with eyes closed and scales in hand. “I am sitting on the back of a man. He is sinking under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except for stepping down from his back,” she proclaimed.