Ideas By Vanessa Nakate September 22, 2024 7:47 AM EDT Nakate is a Ugandan climate-justice activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Earlier this year, President Aliyev of Azerbaijan stood up at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin and told ministers, fossil fuels are a “gift from the gods.” Having oil and gas deposits is “not our fault” he went on, laying out further plans to increase natural gas production by more than a third. But as leader of the host country for the upcoming annual climate talks in November, President Aliyev has an opportunity. He can be bold and make clear that fossil fuels are no longer part of our collective future—and neither should they be a part of our present. We are standing at the precipice of a rapidly warming world, perilously close to crossing irreversible tipping points. Wildfires blaze across the globe, floods engulf towns and homes, and droughts cause starvation, leaving once fertile land barren. As U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly said, any new investment in fossil fuels would be “economic and moral madness.” The U.N.’s Summit of the Future taking place on Sept. 22-23 is about protecting future generations. We must ensure they are safe and secure, instead of vulnerable to climate shocks. What does that look like? A total fossil fuel phase out, a renewed commitment by developed countries to deliver climate finance—as well as loss and damage payments—and a green, just transition that puts people and jobs first, especially those in the Global South. In Sub-Saharan Africa, we are on the front lines of the crisis every day, through no fault of our own. Polluters must pay. Oil corrupts politics, empowers dictators, and erodes democracy, making wars more common. It’s enmeshed in a web of military deals and undermines global cooperation on […]