The COP27 Climate Summit Was Another Exercise in Corporate Greenwashing
Last week’s COP27 summit in Egypt ended with the world still on track for a disastrous rise in global temperatures. But a new climate policy from Brazil after Jair Bolsonaro’s defeat was one ray of hope for those on the front lines of the climate crisis.
German climate activist Luisa Neubauer takes part in a demonstration in front of the International Convention Center, as the UN climate summit COP27 proceeds in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on November 19, 2022. (Mohamed Abdel Hamid / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
As world leaders gathered for this year’s COP27 climate summit in Egypt, the sister of jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah addressed the following words to the international media:
At this conference, the most vulnerable are supposed to negotiate with the most powerful. I want to say that whatever chance my brother has at surviving will come from people who are vulnerable. It will come from those paying the price for others’ luxury; from those locked into a system they did not choose.
Alaa had begun a hunger strike in protest of the refusal of the Egyptian authorities to allow a visit by UK government representatives. His plight symbolized that of the approximately sixty thousand political prisoners in this year’s host country. This quiet battle unmasked the cynical and dangerous alliance of world leaders with authoritarian regimes and oil powers like next year’s host, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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