COP26: A summit of disappointments
- ninoxmitwpu
- Dec 20, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 7, 2022
The COP26 summit has been under the spotlight for quite a while. Several protests, controversies and false promises later the summit ended its 12 day long session on 12th November 2021. The summit is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference also known as COP26 held in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. COP stands for Conference of the Parties, and the summit will be attended by the countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — a treaty that came into force in 1994. For COP26, 200 countries have been asked for their plans to cut emissions by 2030. The goal is to keep cutting emissions until reaching net zero in 2050. This is not new, last time these world leaders met under an air-conditioned roof in Paris there were vows to limit the greenhouse emissions and stop the global temperature from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius and firm it by 2 degrees. But after doing nothing for three years the USA withdrew from the Paris Agreement in 2020 & joined again in 2021 (What a waste!). So far very few countries have stood up and took the charge.
However, some significant and controversial events took place in this event starting with a US-China collaboration.
False promises and empty words were exchanged by the environment representatives of China and USA who issued a joint statement agreeing to cut emissions this decade where China committed for the first time to address emissions from methane. In the joint statement it was quoted that “As two major powers in the world, China and the United States, we need to take our due responsibility and work together and work with others in the spirit of cooperation to address climate change.” China also agreed to “phase down” coal consumption during its 15th Five Year Plan, which starts in 2026. However, the agreement did not elicit any new commitments from China to peak its emissions sooner than it had previously stated, or to set a limit on how increased emissions can rise before peaking. The agreement, being short on details is still a big step towards combating climate change as it brings two tense nations together at the environment front. However, numerous experts claimed the joint commitment between China and the United States fell short of a 2014 agreement between the two countries to jointly reduce emissions, which helped spark the Paris climate agreement a year later. Not just this, but this snappily titled Conference of the Parties, witnessed another disappointment from the host itself.
The world is at “one minute to midnight”, having run down the clock waiting to combat climate change, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said as he flew on a private jet to attend a men’s only private dinner in London. He met with heavy criticism for showing hypocrisy talking about climate conservation and using a private jet whereas the same distance can be easily travelled in 4 hours by train. His ‘James bond’ references did not positively add to the UK’s stance on climate change. His speech explicitly condemned use of fossil fuels and conventional sources of energy. Separately, Mr. Johnson offered to contribute £1 billion to the money the government has set aside to help poor countries over the next four years in an interview with the BBC.
The government has already admitted that the developed world will not fulfil a pledge made in 2009 to pay poorer countries $100 billion per year to aid in the fight against climate change — around £73 billion at current exchange rates. Developing nations such as India had a lot to say regarding the funding that these nations pledged but never met.
“We record our deep disappointment with the deliberations at COP 26 so far…” Those were the grim opening words of India’s statement on day seven of COP26. India’s environment and climate minister says rich countries have “an obligation, responsibility, duty and a vow” to provide climate finance to developing nations and should deliver on an unfulfilled promise to raise USD 100 billion a year. Currently, rich nations provide an estimated $80 billion annually, which poorer nations say isn’t enough to develop clean energy systems and to adapt to worsening climate shocks. India alone said it needs $2.5 trillion, in a 2019 finance ministry document. India — a country with nearly 1.4 billion people or almost one-fifth of the global population and yet accounting for just 5 percent of its emissions — is among the few countries in the world on track to meet its climate targets before 2030. However, emissions analysts say India should have more ambitious targets to help put the world on track to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the goal of the U.N. climate negotiations.
Even though it may seem as if very little is done on the climate conservation front, we still have hopes that this summit might spark a major change in citizens and will provide itself to be a platform to hold those responsible. USA being back at the climate negotiations is a huge step towards gaining momentum in meeting set targets. Moreover, involvement of the US will bring attention and funds necessary to supply to underdeveloped nations to meet climate demands. On a positive note, fossil fuel companies which have not committed to net-zero targets by 2050 or sooner were denied access to COP26, hence creating political pressure on corporations to adopt a climate-positive approach. Moving forward, much is needed to be done to combat this ongoing crisis. The outcome might not be the brightest but accountability to a world full of audience is bound to make a difference.
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