The pandemic forces the postponement of the climate negotiation

The UN and the British government take the agreement after it was learned that the Glasgow palace that was supposed to host the meeting will have to be transformed into a field hospital

Negotiations to intensify the climate ambition of the Paris Agreement are postponed. The Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and the Government of the United Kingdom have decided to postpone until 2021 the celebration of the 26th conference of this organization that was to be held in Glasglow (Scotland). The cause: the crisis caused worldwide by Covid-19. In Spain, both the Government (Minister Teresa Ribera) and Unidas Podemos (Juantxo López de Uralde) expressed their desire that the negotiations be activated once the crisis is over.

The decision was taken at a virtual meeting of the UN “office” late on Wednesday, April 1, attended by the executive secretary of the Convention, The Mexican Patricia Espinosa, and representatives of the main regional blocs of the UN.

COP26 was to take place from 9 to 18 November in Glasgow (Scotland). It is likely to now take place in mid-2021, although no date has been agreed. Further UN climate meetings that were due to take place in June 2020 will now take place in October 2020 in Bonn.

It is no longer possible to ensure an ambitious and inclusive celebration of COP26 in November 2020

The UN alleges, in an official statement, that the summit is postponed because in the current situation – and given the effects of Covid-19 on the world – “it is no longer possible to ensure an ambitious and inclusive celebration of COP26 in November 2020.”

The argument is that “rescheduling the conference will ensure that all parties can focus on the issues to be discussed at this essential conference, and will allow more time for the necessary preparations to take place.”

“We will continue to work with all stakeholders to increase climate ambition, build resilience and reduce emissions.”

The President-designate of COP26 (the British Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) said: “We are facing an unprecedented global challenge and countries are rightly focusing their efforts on saving lives and fighting Covid-19. That is why we have decided to reschedule COP26.”

But we cannot forget that climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity in the long term.

“We will continue to work tirelessly with our partners to realize the ambition needed to address the climate crisis and look forward to agreeing on a new date for the conference.”

“Covid-19 is the most urgent threat facing humanity today, but we cannot forget that climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity in the long term. Soon, economies will restart. This is an opportunity for countries to recover better, to include the most vulnerable in those plans, and an opportunity to shape the economy of the twenty-first century, so that it is clean, green, healthy, fair, safe and more resilient,” said Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the Climate Change Convention.

The pressure to delay the appointment has intensified in the last week

The UK – which is also due to host the G7 in 2021 – has come under increasing pressure to make a decision on COP26 in recent weeks as the pandemic intensified. This week the Scottish government announced that the SEC Arena – where COP26 was to be held – will become a field hospital to deal with COVID-19 cases.

The news of the postponement of COP26 comes as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise to dangerous levels and there is still plenty of evidence of extreme weather events.

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Under the Paris Agreement, reached in 2015, governments made a political commitment to present new climate plans this year. This requirement still stands, but the focus is now on the million-dollar economic stimulus measures that governments are preparing to revive their economies as the pandemic subsides.

Postponing COP26 is the right thing to do, public health and safety must come first now

“Postponing COP26 [tras la decisión paralela de la Convenio de Biodiversidad] is the right thing to do, public health and safety must come first now. The UK presidency and all governments must use this time to design resilient recovery and transition plans that consider climate, biodiversity, development and social justice in an integrated manner.”

This is Laurence Tubiana, considered one of the key people in the Paris Agreement and director general of the European Climate Foundation.

“This crisis has shown that international cooperation and solidarity are essential to protecting world well-being and peace. Next year’s COP26 should become a centerpiece of revitalized global cooperation.”

Teresa Ribera, head of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, said that this “is not good news”, although it is “justified”; but he said that the situation created by the pandemic “undermines” the possibilities of working seriously “in the organization of the summit. He also added that this “should not involve relaxation” in the task of “guiding progress in a climate-compatible manner.”

This should not imply relaxation in the task of guiding progress in a climate-compatible manner.

“It is more than likely that the economic recovery, the relaunch of our economy and our social pattern, after overcoming the coronavirus crisis, will require and find in climate solutions a good space for commitment, relaunch and well-being for all,” he says to minister.

Christiana Figueres, who was executive director of the Climate Change Convention between 2011 and 2016, has stated that “public health, safety and well-being are paramount, and we must do everything possible to stop the spread of COVID-19”.

“While we may have to postpone our diplomatic meetings, the urgent need to take climate action in 2020 cannot be postponed.”

But the urgent need to take climate action in 2020 cannot be postponed.

Science indicates that emissions must peak this year if we are to limit warming to 1.5°C, as set out in the Paris Agreement, he adds.

The intention was for the COP26 summit to serve for countries to increase their objectives and their climate action plans, but it is clear that the Covid-19 crisis has relegated this issue.

“If governments put health, nature regeneration and climate action at the centre of every decision they make to recover from this pandemic, we can emerge as a stronger and more resilient society, and ensure that COP26 puts us on track for a safer climate future,” says Figueres.

“The goal of governments now is to take care of their citizens, stabilize and rebuild, and they must do so in a way that creates a just and climate-safe world, because the health of the environment and our own well-being depend on each other,” said Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International.

The suspension of COP26 should cause governments to redouble their efforts to ensure a green and fair path to manage this health crisis and climate emergency

“The suspension of COP26 should see governments redouble their efforts to ensure a green and fair path to manage this health crisis and climate emergency. Returning to business as usual is completely unacceptable: this pandemic shows that there are huge lessons to be learned about the importance of listening to science and the need for urgent collective global action.”

Unidas Podemos has issued a statement in which it is pointed out that, “in no case should this be a brake on the efforts and ambition of governments to fight against climate change.”

We cannot come out of this crisis with more productivism, polluting as before or returning to the same practices that have brought us here.

Therefore, they propose “a green reindustrialization plan” that guarantees a socially and ecologically just way out of this crisis. The drastic reduction in mobility in Spain, due to restrictions on activity and confinement, has had as a collateral consequence a sharp decrease in traffic pollution and emissions.

However, many experts believe that it will be a one-off reduction. The deputy of Unidas Podemos Juantxo López de Uralde, president of the commission for the Ecological Transition of the Comgres, said: “It is clear that the drastic reduction in emissions has occurred at a high economic and social cost, but we will have to analyze in depth the way in which we get out of this crisis, because we can not do it with more productivism, polluting as before or returning to the same practices that have brought us here”

Javier Andaluz

The excuse of the Covid-19 crisis should not be used to ignore the ecological crisis or take advantage of it to reduce the already insufficient international commitments.

Javier Andaluz, head of climate and energy at Ecologists in Action, declared that if the international community had been more agile in previous conferences, it would be in a better position to face the effects of the coronavirus, “without delaying climate action and the entry into turmoil of the Paris Agreement” (which now, in all its extremes, it will have to be in 2021

For the spokesman of the environmental organization, countries “should not use the excuse of the Covid-19 crisis to ignore the ecological crisis or take advantage of it to lower the already insufficient international commitments.”

“The coronavirus crisis shows us that not taking action in time comes at a high cost, a lesson that should be heard in climate negotiations that remain dominated by inaction,” Andaluz emphasized.

Ecologists in Action points to the need for countries to come up with new, more ambitious national commitments under the Paris Agreement. Its proposal is to achieve an emission reduction of 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990) and achieve neutrality by 2040.

Source: The Vanguard