COP26 What did we achieve?

13 Nov COP26 What did we achieve?

Posted at 23:01h in Climate Change, COP by
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DAY 12+  12 November 2021 COP26

The day dragged on until Sat 13th whilst countries argued over the wording.

What did we achieve?

The COP26 deal now has a name: the Glasgow Climate Pact. All 197 countries agreed to sign up to the deal.

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We hoped to: Secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach. To deliver on these stretching targets, countries will need to:

  1. accelerate the phase-out of coal
  2. curtail deforestation
  3. speed up the switch to electric vehicles
  4. encourage investment in renewables.

The final statement said

  1. phase-down (changed at the last minute from out) of “unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” (Unabated coal is coal produced without the use of technology to capture the emitted carbon.)
  2. Brazil has pledged to stop deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by 2030 but Indonesia changed their mind and backtracked.
  3. Britain has legislated to ban the sale of new fossil fuel cars by 2030. Experts predict that new electric vehicles could cost the same as new petrol or diesel cars within the next five years.
  4. For countries like the UK, investing in renewables will mean continuing the move towards renewable sources such as wind and solar energy – and possibly more reliance on nuclear energy. Solar panels and heat pumps could become standard in our homes.

 

HOWEVER: Since the start of 2020, the world’s major economies have spent more funding fossil fuels through new or amended policies than clean energy.

We hoped to: Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats

The climate is already changing, and it will continue to change even as we reduce emissions, with devastating effects. At COP26 we need to work together to enable and encourage countries affected by climate change to:

  1. protect and restore ecosystems
  2. build defences, warning systems and resilient infrastructure and agriculture to avoid loss of homes, livelihoods and even lives.

The final statement said

  • Governments of 28 countries also committed to remove deforestation from the global trade of food and other agricultural products such as palm oil, soya and cocoa.
  • More than 30 of the world’s biggest financial companies – including Aviva, Schroders and Axa – have also promised to end investment in activities linked to deforestation.
  • And a £1.1bn fund will be established to protect the world’s second largest tropical rainforest – in the Congo Basin.
  • Commitments include supermarkets pledging to cut their environmental impact across climate and nature-loss and fashion brands guaranteeing the traceability of their materials. 
  • 10 new countries signing up to the ‘30by30’ target to protect 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030
  • US would lead by example, and announced it would spend $9bn (£6.6bn) to conserve and restore forests.

We hoped to: Mobilise finance

To deliver on our first two goals, developed countries must make good on their promise to mobilise at least $100bn in climate finance per year by 2020. International financial institutions must play their part and we need work towards unleashing the trillions in private and public sector finance required to secure global net zero.

The final statement said

  • There’s also a significant doubling of money to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of climate change – and the prospect of a trillion dollar a year fund from 2025
  • $8.5 billion dollars has been pledged to help South Africa move to clean energy.
  • The UK said it has found $130 trillion dollars of private finance to help finance net zero
  • However, the $100 billion promised at Paris to help less developed countries has not materialised gaining only S$ 232.6 million in New Pledges at COP26. 
  • Easy jet pledged to go net zero by 2050
  •  Easyjet will need to offset their carbon emissions in order to work towards carbon zero but ultimately they are investing in hydrogen powered aircraft to work towards net zero

We hoped to: Work together to deliver

We can only rise to the challenges of the climate crisis by working together.

At COP26 we must:

  1. finalise the Paris Rulebook (the detailed rules that make the Paris Agreement operational)
  2. accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis through collaboration between governments, businesses, and civil society.

The final statement said

  • More than 100 countries agree to cut emissions of methane by 30% by 2030. ajor emitters like Russia, China and India are not part of the pledge.
  • The UK today pledged £27.5m of new funding for the new Urban Climate Action Programme (UCAP) to support cities targeting net zero. The programme will support cities by helping them implement innovative climate action plans to become carbon neutral by 2050 and prepare low-carbon infrastructure projects to reduce emissions. 
  • Countries are asked to “revisit and strengthen” their 2030 emissions-cutting targets by the end of 2022, “taking into account different national circumstances”
  • The Fashion Industry has announced the Race to Zero. This may be the beginning of the end of fast fashion

For a good summary by the BBC click here

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