On Feb. 27, Interim Director of Policy Initiative at the Atlantic Council Jorge Gastelumendi spoke to Sidwell students. The Atlantic Council, a group that encourages cooperation in international relations, works to make a difference in climate change affairs. Gastelumendi has worked 11 years at the Nature Conservancy non-profit and has a long track record of working toward climate change goals.
In 2023, Gastelumendi attended the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, a gathering aimed to further climate change progress and relations between countries. Hosted in the United Arab Emirates, the conference included over 80,000 representatives from around the globe. COP28 is one of many climate change conferences that have been called after the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Senior Amelia Petty, who attended his talk, noted that Gastelumendi first delved into the background information of the conference. She said he focused on the UN’s failure to reach their climate goals introduced in 1992 at the first UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The goals set at the 1992 conference were not reached by 2015, in part due to the restrictions and limits they placed upon different countries. The Paris Agreement was put in place to restructure how the UN regulated climate change, through funding climate change reform, assessing countries’ progress and reducing carbon emissions. Gastelumendi believed that this agreement was a strong starting point, but its enforcement proved difficult.
Gastelumendi then discussed the consumerism model, a societal structure which promotes societies that spend more money and manufacture goods. This structure is designed in such a way because countries that generate more goods grow their economy faster than countries who import their goods.
However, the countries that rely on manufacturing contribute more to global emissions than countries based around the import of goods. Gastelumendi explored the ethical concerns of blocking lesser-developed countries from manufacturing in order to protect the environment. He argued that while it is unfair that other, wealthier countries established manufacturing plants while climate change was not as urgent, climate change must now be prioritized as these third world countries build factories.
Gastelumendi concluded his talk by looking to the future. He claims that the UN can still reach their new goals by working through both the private sector and governmental processes. Gastelumendi also hopes new forms of technology and innovation can allow countries to reach their climate goals, especially if countries and individuals are invested.
Petty left his talk with two main questions. First, “how do you motivate countries to want to create change for the environment, even at the expense of their economy or wealth?” and second,“ how can wealthy countries invest in developing countries and develop sustainable technologies/solutions for global warming, and how can economic development go hand-in-hand with saving the environment?”
Most wealthy countries have economies based on some form of global emission, so any climate goals set could potentially harm their economies, which makes progress against climate change challenging. It would take agreement across countries to follow the goals set by the UN.
Looking ahead, Gastelumendi is optimistic for the future. He hopes that countries will follow the guidelines put in place by the Paris Agreement and also work to further economic gains, especially in less developed countries.
Like Petty, many students were grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the climate change situation through Gastelumendi’s talk and hope to engage further in these topics in the future.
