After a series of climate catastrophes across the globe, the world watched COP 26 summit closely, an annual United Nations [UN] climate change conference. Hosted in partnership by the UK and Italy, this conference was delayed by a year due to the pandemic. Nonetheless, it created a lot of interest: around 200 countries reported their progress on previously set goals and also negotiate more stringent milestones to mitigate the climate crisis.
To some countries, climate crisis seems like something to happen in the future; it is a present tragic reality to many others. This year’s conference happened both inside and outside the venue. While world leaders negotiated their stands within the venue, several people, protestors and activists paraded outside, demanding climate justice.
After several powerful speeches of the harsh reality and two weeks of intense negotiations, the main outcomes of this COP 26 are as follows:
1.5°C is the target
A heartening outcome from the conference is that all countries have accepted to work towards the target of limiting the earth’s temperature rise to 1.5°C. To reach this goal, global emissions need to be cut in half by the end of this century. Already the earth’s temperature is higher by 1.1°C and this state itself has triggered several unpredictable climate catastroophe in recent months. If this target of 1.5°C of earth’s temperature is missed, it could cause deadly heat waves, stronger cyclones, unprecedented rains, water shortages, crop failures and eventually an entire ecosystem collapse. António Guterres, Secretary General of UN, called on countries to return to the summit every year to nudge one another, “until keeping to 1.5 degrees is assured, until subsidies to fossil fuels end, until there is a price on carbon and until coal is phased out.”
Climate Finance
While a target helps to work at a rapid pace, it involves a lot of cost. The major cause of this current situation has been the uncontrolled emissions of the industrial revolution. Countries that have been historically high emitters have become developed economies and the strain of balancing emission and development now falls on the developing and the under developed economies. Moreover, the impact of this climate change has been rather severe in these latter economies that has taken a severe toll on their livelihood.
In 2009, rich countries pledged to raise USD 100 billion a year by 2020 and through 2025 to support climate efforts in less wealthy nations. But till now only around USD 80 billion has been raised. This shortfall has not been filled but several
countries have pledged more funding during the event. The Least Developed Countries Group (LDC) made it clear that it would take at least USD 1 trillion per year to adapt and mitigate climate concerns.
Muting the methane menace
Around 100 countries signed a Global Methane Pledge to take voluntary actions at the domestic level to collectively cut methane emissions at least 30 per cent by 2030. The countries included high emitters like US, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Mexico and Canada among others. Methane, a short-lived gas in the atmosphere, has more than 80 times the heating power of CO2. An assessment by UN estimates that cutting methane is an effective way to slow down warming this decade.
Phase down, not phase out coal
All the participating countries agreed that fossil fuels as the main cause of climate change. After long negotiations, an agreement was reached that unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies will be phased down. This agreement was said to be changed at the last minute by China and India that insisted on a “phase down” rather than “phase out.” While the agreement disappointed many it is still seen as incremental progress towards a shift to green energy.
An US-China pledge
The world’s largest emitters seemed to agree on certain things in the climate front. The two large economies agreed to co-operate this decade to prevent global warming from surpassing 1.5°C. Though the deal lacked details or timelines it seems to address energy issues, deforestation, methane emission and also work together to accelerate transition to become net-zero emitting economies.
Deforestation
A budget of USD 19.2 billion has been agreed upon to end deforestation by 2030. About 137 countries including US, UK, Denmark, Turkey, Canada, Italy and, surprisingly, Brazil have signed it. Brazil has been condemned for the cutting of the Amazon
forest, the major green biosphere on earth.
These countries have committed to collectively end forest loss and land degradation by 2030. Companies and investors pledged to support a transition to more sustainable land-use within their supply chains and financial portfolios.
This COP 26 conference hit the right note in several parts but missed badly in addressing some. After two weeks of intense negotiations and a few dramatic final minutes, COP 26 is over.
| “Panch Amrit” approach to tackle climate change
Narendra Modi addressed the opening day at the Glasgow climate conference and spoke about the “Panch Amrit” or India’s five-point agenda to tackle this crisis. The focus was:
India is the world’s fourth largest carbon emitter following China, US and the European Union (EU) but the per capita emission is very low at 1.98 tonnes of CO2. China, US and EU have very high per capita emission at 7.2 tonnes, 16.5 tonnes, 6.8 tonnes of CO2, respectively. India’s net zero emission target is two decades after the proposed world target but India justifies this with its need to balance on both economic growth and climate concern. |
What does the younger generation say?
This COP 26 conference saw a sea of young generation fighting for their future. Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist called the COP 26 a failure and highlighted that one cannot solve this crisis with the same methods that created it.
Ugandan Climate activist Vanessa Nakate challenged policy makers to prove the youth climate crusaders wrong by actually implementing the promises they have made so far. She said that this would be just another COP conference with promises made but with no drastic actions at the ground level. She criticised that the youth are being drowning in the promises made.
I am a girl from earth
Vinisha Umashankar is a young climate crusader from Tamil Nadu, India. Her solar powered ironing cart design made her win the Children’s Climate Prize conferred by the Children’s Climate Foundation from Sweden and was also selected as a finalist for the Prince William’s Earthshot Prize. She was invited by Prince William to speak at the COP 26 and in her five minute bold speech; Vinisha said that she was not just a girl from India but a girl from earth. An optimist looking out for action, Vinisha said: “on behalf of The Earthshot Prize Winners and Finalists, I invite you to join us. I invite you to stand with us. We hope that you will give up the old ways of thinking and the old habits. But let me be clear ! When we invite you to join us, we will lead even if you don’t. We will act even if you delay. And we’ll build the future, even if you are still stuck in the past. But please accept my invite and I assure you, you will not regret it.”
She further registered the anger of the younger generation, “young people have every reason to be angry and frustrated at leaders who have made empty promises and failed to deliver. None of what we discuss today is practical for me. We need actions rather than promises to live in a habitable world.”
We have no more time…
Txai Surui is a young activist from the Brazilian Amazon. A student in the last semester of the Law course, she is the coordinator of the Indigenous Youth Movement of Rondônia and works at the Kanindé indigenous rights defense NGO. In her two-minute speech she kept the audiences raptured detailing the plight of indigenous people facing climate consequences but being left out at such important discussions. She pointed to the warning signs that we already see, “Today the climate is warming. The animals are disappearing. The rivers are dying and our plants don’t flower like they did before. The Earth is speaking. She tells us that we have no more time!” Dressed in traditional attire, she urged the world leaders to adopt new and faster path to reduce emission and said, “It’s not 2030 or 2050. It’s now!”
You can save us or sell us out…
Brianna Fruean, a young Samoan activist represented the Pacific Islands at the COP 26 inaugural session. She highlighted how every single word spoken at the conference can have a huge impact on their lives, “…switching one word or number could reframe worlds how climate action can be vastly different from climate justice, how 2 degrees could mean the end and 1.5 could mean a fighting chance.”
She urged the leaders to take the right decision and follow it up with action. She ended her short speech powerfully stating that, “We are not just victims of this crisis we have been resilient beacons of hope. Our warrior cry to the world is: we are not drowning, we are fighting.”
Please open your hearts…
Elizabeth Wathuti, a Kenyan climate activist pointed to around 2 million people in Kenya suffering from climate-related starvation due to drought. She registered her pain by saying it was heartbreaking to see people who contributed least to the climate crisis suffer most of the impacts. She forced the leaders to begin and do more.
