COP26: the common front that intends to stand up to climate change

Just a few days ago, the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg took advantage of her speech before the UN Youth Climate Conference in Milan (Italy) to make fun of world political leaders – among them, the president of the United States, Joe Biden , and the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson–, whom he accused of offering empty promises that never end up being carried out in actions.

“There is no planet B blah blah blah”, “green economy blah blah blah”, “carbon neutrality by 2050 blah blah blah”, “build back better blah blah blah”, he emphasized to the applause of 400 young people from almost 200 countries, between the ages of 15 and 29, gathered to draft a joint declaration one month before the crucial climate conference COP26. “They invite chosen young people to meetings like this and they pretend to listen to us, but they don’t, they never listen to us,” he added.

COP stands for Conference of the Parties. The Parties, made up of 196 countries and the EU, agreed in 1994 on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Since then, the governments involved have met regularly to carry out complex negotiations with the participation of officials from all countries of the world, as well as representatives of civil society and the media. The 2021 conference, to be held from 1 to 12 November in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, will be the 26th Meeting of the Parties, hence the name COP26. Initially, it was scheduled for November 2020, but it had to be postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Under the slogan “Uniting the world to face climate change”, the meeting aims to establish ambitious measures that limit the increase in global temperature to below 2°C –ideally, 1.5°C– with respect to pre-industrial levels . To do this, greenhouse gases emitted by humans must be eliminated by at least 40%. In fact, this objective was already set during the 2015 COP, in which the well-known Paris Agreement was closed. The difference is that now countries have to present their emission cut plans for their entire economy, or in specific sectors, and update them every five years to reflect their progression over time.

The Nationally Determined Contributions –NDC, for its acronym in English–, as they are called, represent a kind of accountability so that the promises, as Greta Thunberg says, do not remain mere words. The problem is that the plans of the Parties that are on the table right now will increase the emission of greenhouse gases by 16% in 2030 compared to 2010. This increase, unless quickly modified, could cause the global temperature to reach 2.7°C by the end of the century, according to a report recently published by the UN to assess how governments’ climate action is evolving before the COP26.

If the increase in temperature of the planet continues at the current rate, they will intensify
storms, floods and wildfires

In plain words, if global warming continues at this rate, there will be serious and widespread impacts on people and nature. One-third of the world’s population will be regularly exposed to intense heat, leading to health problems and deaths. Around the world, storms, floods and wildfires will continue to intensify. Air pollution will catastrophically affect human health and unpredictable weather will also cause untold damage to homes and livelihoods. Not to mention the damage to biodiversity and the unstoppable destruction of species. “We are on the brink of the abyss”, António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, has come to affirm emphatically.

At 1.5°C, the impacts would be serious, but less severe. According to the organizers of COP26, there would be less risk of food and water scarcity, fewer obstacles to economic growth and fewer endangered species. Threats to human health from air pollution, disease, malnutrition, and exposure to extreme heat would also be lower. That is, every fraction of a degree counts, and a lot. That’s why many see the UK-Italy joint event in Glasgow as the world’s last big chance to rein in runaway climate change, though Guterres hasn’t been too optimistic about its success.

the glasgow schedule

The commitments of the COP26
In the negotiations that will take place during the celebration of the Conference of the Parties in November in Glasgow, the governments have committed to work and reach concrete actions around four axes.

Reaching global “net zero”

Countries have to come up with ambitious emission reduction plans in line with the goal of reaching “net zero” – producing less carbon than is taken out of the atmosphere by mid-century. To do this, they will have to accelerate a series of measures: eliminate coal, encourage investment in renewable energy, reduce deforestation and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.

Protect communities and natural habitats

The climate is changing and will continue to do so even if we reduce emissions, with devastating effects. COP26 asks the Parties to work together to encourage countries affected by climate change to protect and restore ecosystems, implement warning systems and make infrastructure and agriculture more resilient to avoid the loss of homes and livelihoods .

Find funding sources

To achieve the first two goals, developed countries must deliver on their promise to raise at least $100 billion in climate finance per year. The international financial institutions must play their role in working to obtain the economic resources from the public and private sectors necessary to ensure global “net zero”.

Facing challenges together

The challenges of curbing climate change can only be met if the Parties commit to working together. Thus, the measures approved in the Paris Agreement must be implemented and the promises converted into actions with the collaboration between governments, companies and civil society to meet the climate objectives more quickly.

The end of fossil fuels

To quickly translate the objectives into action, developed countries must banish fossil fuels such as coal, which releases the most carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and produce clean energy. This translates into a commitment not to open or finance any new coal-fired power plants anywhere in the world. In this sense, China is concerned, responsible for around 28% of the planet’s global emissions – to get an idea, Europe’s emissions account for 8% and those of the United States 16%. At the end of September, the president of the Asian giant, Xi Jinping, assured the UN General Assembly that they would stop financing and building coal-fired power plants abroad. However, those in the country had to suddenly reopen due to the growing demand for manufactured products since the start of the pandemic. In addition, the Chinese leader has not yet confirmed his attendance at the event.

For the designated president of the COP26, Alok Sharma, very significant progress has been made in recent years, and about 70% of the world economy is not adding new emissions to the atmosphere, an objective known as “net zero”. “The world is moving towards a low-carbon future. Clean energy, such as wind and solar, is now the cheapest source of electricity in most countries. Many of the car manufacturers around the world are switching to producing only electric and hybrid models; countries around the world are starting important work to protect and restore nature; cities, states and regions around the world are also committing to zero emissions. Still, we’re going to need a lot more. We cannot wake up in 2029 and decide to cut our emissions by 50% by 2030,” he maintains in official statements.

critical industry
Towards a fairer and more sustainable food system

Earth is currently inhabited by 7.9 billion people, and counting. Never in the history of humanity has there been so much population, so producing food sustainably is not only a great challenge, but also one of the most serious environmental problems. One third of greenhouse gas emissions come from the supply chain of the
food system. And recent studies assure that efforts to stop them will be useless if there are no drastic changes in global land use, agriculture and human diets.

Hence, the role of the food sector is one of the crucial axes of the development of COP26, which has a specific area in which parallel activities and debates will be held that will bring together representatives of agricultural communities, cities, states and regions to dialogue constructively on food and climate change. In addition, work will be done on a declaration on the need for integrated policies for a just transition towards greener and healthier food systems and a sustainable future for producers, who face the interruption of their livelihoods due to the climate emergency.

China assured that it would stop building coal-fired power plants abroad, but those of the country itself have reopened due to the demand for manufactured products

A quarter of a century warned
25 years of climate summits

The origin of the Conferences of the Parties, known as COPs, goes back a long way, when in 1992 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed, currently ratified by 197 countries. It is the agreement through which the international community recognizes the existence of the problem of global warming -the average temperature of the planet had risen one degree with respect to the levels prior to the industrial revolution- and undertakes to reduce the concentration
atmosphere of greenhouse gases.

Since then, the Parties have been meeting regularly at global climate summits. The first, held in Berlin in 1995, paved the way for the signing of the Kyoto Protocol two years later, which required rich, industrialized nations to curb their emissions. The United States, with George Bush at the helm of the presidency, rejected it arguing that China, India and other emerging economies were not required to reduce greenhouse gases.

After two decades of disputes about which nations are most responsible for dealing with climate change, in 2015, at COP21, the Paris Agreement was signed. For the first time, almost every country in the world has made a legally binding commitment to reduce emissions. It was top-down, with everyone big and small signing on to limit warming to below 2 degrees and ideally 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. And “from the bottom up” in the sense that it left room for each country, individually, to decide how to reach that goal.

The United States, again, withdrew from the Paris Agreement during the term of Donald Trump, but rejoined with President Joe Biden. The meeting in Glasgow is the most important since then and many think it is the last best opportunity to control runaway climate change.

Help developing countries

“More and more countries, companies and investors are coming forward with decarbonization commitments for 2030 or 2050. But while these commitments are very important in the long term, it is the decisions we make today that really matter. The climate crisis is already causing loss and damage to many people and while we may all be under the same storm, we are definitely not all in the same boat,” says Kenyan activist Elizabeth Wathuti, founder of the Green Generation initiative, that promotes love for nature and environmental awareness among the youngest.

Representatives from 190 countries will debate for 12 days in Glasgow so that the fight against the climate emergency does not remain mere talk

Indeed, many people around the world are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, especially in developing countries. Therefore, the Parties must also work together to offer these governments greater financial, technical and capacity deployment support so that they can meet their commitments to reduce emissions and provide clean energy to their citizens. “We have to reach the peak of emissions before 2030 and support developing countries to increase their resilience to climate change,” says the UN’s Executive Secretary for Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa, on this issue.

During COP26, 190 world leaders are expected to arrive in Scotland who, together with thousands of negotiators, government representatives, companies and citizens, will hold talks for 12 days so that the fight against the climate emergency does not remain, as Greta says, in a simple “blah, blah, blah”.

Source: The Vanguard