The closing of the latest Conference of the Parties — COP27 — in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, offers a moment to reflect on the doom we’re staring down. Not that ruminating on disaster is a productive use of our time. It’s not. But clocking where we’re at and where we’re headed is good for perspective. Ideally, it ought to be good for motivation, too. It’s better to forestall 1.5°C of warming than 3°C. And yet as we stare down the trajectory of a warming planet, and as the Trudeau government struts the domestic and global stage overselling Canada as a climate champion, the annual meeting of those who can do something about it produced, at best, a mixed bag. That’s simply not good enough.

On November 20, as the conference closed, Catherine Abreu, founder and executive director of Destination Zero, told the story of “A tale of two COPs.” The first COP is one that recognizes the disproportionate burden of climate change. As Abreu put it, “On one hand a landmark decision to establish a loss and damage fund to address the devastating consequences of climate change . . . ” The fund is well overdue. Not all states are affected equally by climate change, just as not all states are equal contributors to the phenomenon. And keeping in line with global history, the poorest states are set to bear the greatest burden despite being — as a rule — minor offenders compared to the wealthy ones.

Beyond the fund, however, Abreu noted a second COP. This COP is profoundly compromised by its “major failure to finally name and tackle the cause of the climate crisis: fossil fuels.” And Canada is part of the problem, even with its last-minute, weasel-worded commitment to including language on phasing out fossil fuels to the COP final text (after saying it wouldn’t commit).