COP26: Promises ‘ring hollow’ as fossil fuels continue to receive trillions in subsidies, says Guterres

Governments must work equally on climate mitigation, adaptation and financing. They cannot be satisfied with the “lowest common denominator”, said the head of the UN in Glasgow, where the crucial climate negotiations are in their final stretch. At the same time, 13 countries, including Costa Rica, launched a new alliance to end oil and gas, and in other rooms, the issue of cities was the center of attention.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres confessed to delegates on Thursday that he was inspired by the mobilization of civil society, including youth, indigenous communities, women’s groups, cities and the private sector, and highlighted how the fight for climate action requires everyone’s participation.

“We know what needs to be done. Keeping the 1.5º target within reach means reducing global emissions by 45% by 2030. But with the current NDC package, even if applied totality, emissions will continue to increase in 2030,” he reminded participants at a high-level event in the plenary session.

He then commented on the latest analysis carried out by various UN climate and environment agencies, which shows that, even if the latest promises and commitments from the UN Climate Conference are taken on, COP26 , we are headed for an increase in global warming well above 2º.

“I welcome the recognition of this fact in yesterday’s US-China cooperation agreement, an important step in the right direction. But promises ring empty when the fossil fuel industry continues to receive trillions in subsidies, according to the International Monetary Fund. Or when countries continue to build coal plants or when carbon continues to have no price,” he stressed.

Guterres called on all countries, cities, companies and financial institutions to “radically, credibly and verifiably” reduce their emissions and decarbonize their portfolios, starting now.

Taking stock of progress and a new way to measure it

Although Guterres acknowledged that current efforts to tackle climate change are far from sufficient, he highlighted the progress made during COP26 in Glasgow, such as the commitment to stop and reverse deforestation, several commitments to achieve zero emissions from cities, and other alliances and pledges around the world to phase out coal and invest in clean energy.

“We need promises to be put into practice. We need commitments to become concrete. We need actions to be verified. We need to bridge the deep and real credibility gap,” he added, saying that, as an engineer, he knows that the structures lasting need solid foundations.

The Secretary announced that he will create an expert group tasked with proposing clear standards for measuring and analyzing non-state actors’ zero emissions commitments, which will present a series of recommendations next year.

“We need to be able to measure the progress made and adjust when they go off track… Now we need to focus on the quality and implementation of plans. On measurement and analysis. On reporting, transparency and accountability,” he said, calling on the agents to cooperate with the UN and be accountable to each other.

“Only together can we keep the 1.5º within our reach and the equitable and resilient world we need,” he concluded.

Time is running out for oil and gas: A new alliance is formed

In a new positive step, earlier in the day, and in line with Guterres’ call, eleven countries presented the “Alliance Beyond Oil and Gas” (BOGA) at COP26.

Ireland, France, Denmark and Costa Rica, among others, and some subnational governments, launched an unprecedented alliance to set an end date for the national exploration and extraction of oil and gas. Until now, similar announcements had only been made on coal.

The main members of this alliance declared during a press conference that they were committed to ending all new concessions, licensing rounds and leases.

“It’s about the courage to really come up with concrete actions. We listen to the world beyond these walls and we know the science is clear about the need to accelerate action. And when we talk about how to do it, we’re addressing the part of the action of the demand and although we know that it is important (…) we cannot forget about the supply. We have to talk about this,” said Andrea Meza, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica during a press conference.

“Every dollar we invest in fossil fuel projects is one dollar less for renewable energy and for nature conservation… it’s about how to take advantage of the dynamic to start this dialogue,” he added.

The members of the Climate Action Network, which includes more than a thousand civil society organizations, applaud the initiative, which they describe as “long-awaited”.

“Why is it significant? Because we are at the Climate Conference, COP26, and for the first time we have a project of the Glasgow decisions that includes fossil fuels (…) The launch of the BOGA alliance means that the things are changing, that the climate change conversation is evolving, and that the need to phase out all fossil fuels is no longer taboo for many countries,” said Romain Ioaualalen, director of the global policy campaign at Oil Change International.

For him, the alliance poses a simple question to all the countries that are negotiating at COP26 and, in particular, to the countries of the Global North that continue to massively produce oil and gas and have no plans to stop doing so.

“The question is where is your plan? Where is your plan to listen to science? We have known that fossil fuels are the cause of climate change for decades,” said the Ioaualalen.

The commitment of cities around the world

California is one of the founding cities of the new BOGA alliance. Meanwhile, many other cities around the world, 1049 to be exact, presented their commitment to become zero emissions cities by 2050 and halve their emissions by 2030 at the start of the conference.

“In the almost 30 years of meetings of the Climate Conference, COP26 is the first in which local and city governments came together with the same voice and leading by example. It is the first time that we were able to show the commitment of 1049 cities that already have actions and investment measures in the fight against climate change. We meet to show that commitment and to ask national governments and private companies to do their part, to align their incentives and investments with climate action plans and with our citizens’ demands for real change,” Claudia López, mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, and also co-chair of the C40 group of cities, which drafted the commitment, told UN News.

The last theme of the COP26 thematic days was precisely “Cities, regions and built environments”, which highlights that with 68% of the world’s population living in cities by 2050, it is vital to build a sustainable and resilient future.

“The mayors are the ones on the ground, the ones closest to the people and we need to get results, no matter what political affiliation they are, when storms and extreme weather events come, and now they come with greater frequency and intensity, it costs more,” said Sylvester Turner, mayor of the city of Houston, in the United States, explaining how work in cities can be the engine of national action.

By 2050, 1.6 billion people living in cities will be regularly exposed to extremely high temperatures and more than 800 million will be vulnerable to sea level rise and coastal flooding.

The hosts of COP26 stress that accelerating the transition to net-zero emissions for the world’s cities will be vital to achieving the goal of keeping global warming close to 1.5º.

Build a better future

According to UN Habitat, cities consume 78% of the world’s energy and produce more than 60% of greenhouse gas emissions, but represent less than 2% of the Earth’s surface.

Today, the director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Inger Andersen, has participated in a panel of the COP26 to ask for more efficient constructions from the energy point of view.

“We build the equivalent of new buildings the size of Paris every week and if that is the way we are expected to expand, we have to think about how we do it for climate, biodiversity, habitability and quality of life. We have to build better,” he said.

According to Andersen, buildings and constructions are responsible for 37% of CO2 emissions, and construction materials, such as cement, account for 10% of global emissions.

He also noted that more than half of the buildings that will go up in 2060 have yet to be built.

“We don’t put enough emphasis on resilience, the typical building built today will still be in use in 2070, and the climate impact the building will have to withstand will be very different. Renovation can deliver both a high level of efficiency and livability,” he explained. .

According to the agency for the environment, only 19 countries have added measures related to the energy efficiency of buildings and have implemented them, and the majority of future construction will take place in countries without these measures.

“For every dollar invested in energy efficient buildings, we see that 37 go to conventional buildings, which are energy inefficient. We have to put aside these gradual changes because they are too slow, we need a real transformation of the sector. We have to build better”, he said, asking governments to be more ambitious in this regard if they want to fulfill the promise of zero emissions.

At what point are the negotiations: “There is still no agreement” .

For his part, the president of COP26, Alok Sharma, offered a review of the state of the negotiations in the last 24 hours. He said discussions on the global adaptation goal had been concluded, and he hoped it would be approved. Sharma acknowledged that there is progress and a spirit of cooperation and civility that has been shown throughout the negotiations, but said that they “have not yet reached” the most decisive issues.

“There is still a lot of work to do, and COP26 will be closed at the end of the day tomorrow – time is running out,” he told reporters, assuring negotiators are now “rolling up their sleeves” to find solutions that have eluded them for six years.

“The financing negotiations have to be accelerated and they have to be accelerated now,” he added.

The COP26 president also said, echoing Guterres’ words, that the world has to rise to the challenge and be more ambitious.

Source: United Nations