PNG to boycott 'waste of time' UN climate summit

PORT MORESBY

Papua New Guinea has declared a boycott of next month's U.N. climate summit, branding the global warming negotiations a "waste of time" full of empty promises from big polluters.

While plenty have criticized the annual COP summit in the past, it is rare for any government to so totally dismiss the U.N.'s premier climate talks.

"There's no point going if we are falling asleep because of jet lag because we're not getting anything done," Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told AFP ahead of November's COP29 summit in Azerbaijan.

"All the big polluters of the world promise and commit millions to assist in climate relief and support. And I can tell you now it's all going to consultants."

The island of New Guinea is home to the third-largest expanse of rainforest on the planet, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and has long been celebrated as one of the "lungs of the earth."

Impoverished, flanked by ocean, and already prone to natural disasters, Papua New Guinea is also considered to be highly vulnerable to the unfolding perils of climate change.

"COP is a total waste of time," Tkatchenko said.

"We are sick of the rhetoric as well as the merry-go-round of getting absolutely nothing done over the last three years. We are the third-biggest rainforest nation in the world. We are sucking up the pollutants of these major countries. And they are getting away with it scot-free."