The COP Climate Summit has been branded "no longer fit for purpose" in an open letter to the United Nations.
An open letter signed by prominent figures — including the former UN secretary-general, a former UN climate chief and numerous climate experts and advocates — says things cannot go on as they are.
The letter offers seven suggestions for reform, the first of which calls for an improvement of the host selection process.
Yeb Saño, executive director at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, says the conference should not be funded or fuelled by corporate interest.
"It is a big problem when the fossil fuel industry is involved in climate negotiations and in hosting the spaces where we have to deal with pushing ambition in this process," he said.
Saño said that all COP summits — the world's top forum for pushing international action on climate change — "should be rid of vested interests".
"One of the ways that can be done, without undermining the larger work that we're trying to do here and all parties are trying to do here, is to prevent corporate capture of these spaces and make sure that COPs are public-funded instead of being funded by big corporate money."
Third COP summit hosted by 'petro-state'
This year's COP29 in Azerbaijan marks the third year in a row the summit has been held in a so-called petro-state, with this year's organising committee including current and former oil and gas executives.
Azerbaijan is not only facing scrutiny for its reliance on fossil fuels and commitments to increase gas and oil production, but also for human rights abuses and an
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg is boycotting the summit.
Speaking from neighbouring Armenia, she says Azerbaijan's recent attacks on dissidents within the country and the Armenian people cannot be overlooked.
"The continuous extreme hardships that many Armenians are facing because of the Azerbaijani military aggression, the torture, forcefully displacement, prisoners of war, hostages, and the ethnic cleansing, and the extreme physical and psychological violence that people have experienced can in absolutely no way be justified," she said.
The letter argues that the time has well and truly come for the COP Summit to shift from being a platform of negotiation into a space for rapid implementation.
With this year's summit surrounded by uncertainty, not only regarding the host but also
, concerns have risen about the ability to make progress.
'No one country can do this alone'
Director of the International Climate Politics Hub Catherine Abreu says the letter should not be interpreted as a criticism but rather as necessary suggestions for improvement.
"It (the letter) has landed in an atmosphere of cynicism around the ability of this space to deliver the outcomes that it needs to deliver. And I think perhaps these constructive ideas for how we might turn this space into an implementation vehicle have been misinterpreted in that context as a criticism of the space," she said.
"Ultimately, I think we all agree that it is absolutely essential for countries to cooperate to tackle the climate crisis. No one country can do this alone. And this is the only space that brings every country in the world together to do anything," she added.
The letter also makes suggestions to enhance equitable representation by improving the management of corporate interests at COP.
It argues that the fact there are more lobbyists than official representatives from scientific institutions, indigenous communities and vulnerable nations reflects a systemic imbalance that must be resolved.
Fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber most country delegations
Catherine Abreu says the large presence of lobbyists is not a signal of their desire to change.
"We know that 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists are here at COP29. That is larger than most country delegations, except for three country delegations, including the host country delegations.
"Those interests are not here to drive ambition. In fact, they're here to take us backward.
"The UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) needs a conflict of interest policy that puts a firewall between all things climate change, all things UNFCCC and all things fossil fuels."
With such a large presence of fossil fuel lobbyists, the letter also urges amplifying the voice of authoritative science.
Following the election of Donald Trump in the US, concerns are mounting about misinformation and climate denialism further stalling progress.
Optimism among delegates at COP29 certainly wasn't helped by
. A year ago, the country elected Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian
has drawn comparisons to Trump.
Finance negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States Michai Robertson says Trump and Milei are part of a global trend that has worrying implications for the climate.
"We're in a different geopolitical context than we were the first time that (the US) left (the Paris Agreement). A lot of other countries are leaning right? Right. There's less sort of ability for us and sort of camaraderie amongst the international community to get things done".
Speaking at COP29, former US vice president Al Gore also attacked the fossil fuel industry and its ostensible influence over the negotiations.
"It's unfortunate that the fossil fuel industry and the petrostates have seized control of the COP process to an unhealthy degree," he said.
"Do we listen to the polluters who don't want to do anything meaningful that might reduce fossil fuels? Or do we listen to the scientists who have been telling us what we need to do?"
"The fact that the scientists who predicted all of this decades ago have been proven dead right should cause the rest of us to pay more attention to what they're telling us now."
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