Earlier this month saw the much-anticipated COP-26 Climate Summit, hosted by the UK government in Glasgow. Its outcomes have been viewed in varying ways by scientists, politicians and students.
Whilst few environmentalists believe we are on track, some are encouraged by small progress and the opportunities next year to build on what we have done. However, others are not so hopeful.
Abhijeet, a master’s student in International Relations at the University of Sheffield said: “I see the conference as a failure due to the lack of decisive action in ruling out fossil fuels.” Whilst Anesu Matanda-Mambingo, the university of Sheffield’s Welfare & Sustainability Officer, said: “the immediate outcomes of COP-26 are not enough.”
There is an inevitable pessimism perhaps with those who want decisive action; it is all very well and good saying that we can build upon this next year, but based on the building done this year hopes are not high.
There was shock during the COP conference as Climate Action Tracker released a report estimating, under current commitments, that we were looking at rises of around 2.4 degrees Celsius. It is evident then that these commitments are not enough; yet this was expected, and it is not as bad as it sounds. The yearly nature of the COP conferences means that it will not be long before countries meet again in Egypt in 2022, and discuss newer, bolder commitments, which can help to bring countries’ actions in line with the 1.5 degrees Celsius target we have. Nonetheless, it will take many more steps to reach our destination.
Image taken by Li-An Lim on Unsplash.com
What has actually been agreed?
110 leaders committed to ‘ending and reversing’ deforestation by 2030, including a £1.1bn fund to protect the world’s second largest tropical rainforest, in the Congo Basin. This is really important given the roll that rainforests and forests play in regulating Co2 levels; the Amazon is often referred to as the ‘lungs of the earth.’
But even though Brazil is a signatory on this agreement, it may well just be a case of greenwashing. Greenpeace Brazil’s Carolina Pasquali says that a similar story is evident in the coal agreement: at the last minute, the wording was changed down from a ‘phasing out’ to a ‘phasing down’ of coal. Whilst it is positive that we are talking about moving away from coal, it seems that we have not grasped the urgency.
Abhijeet, mentioned earlier that this watered-down wording of the coal agreement is an example of what he sees as a lack of decisive action.
The Executive director of Greenpeace said: “COP26 was bad for fossil fuels, but not bad enough”.
Whilst the issue of mitigation is essential, we cannot discuss the climate crisis without talking of adaption, particularly in the global south. Representatives from developing countries were already angry going into the conference over the $100 Billion annual climate finance, which was pledged in 2009 but still has not been upheld. Developed nations hope to reach this by 2023, with the 2022 prediction falling short by $4 billion.
Anesu, added: “Many world leaders omitted the impact the climate crisis is having on more vulnerable countries.”
Mal Chadwick wrote for Greenpeace: ‘It’ll be up to citizens, campaigners and forward-thinking politicians to make sure governments set more ambitious goals and stick to them.’
One of the main things we can do as citizens or activists is to keep the pressure on the government to go with the commitments they have made at COP, and to ensure that come next year, those commitments are built upon.
Anesu said: “Together activists, students, researchers, teachers, policymakers, and filmmakers, from across the globe must continue to come together to demand just, fair and nature-based change. People can continue with the momentum gained at COP26 to push governments to be more ambitious with their commitments in the future. The next few months will be a real test of COP26’s impact.”
Image taken by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.com
This message further highlights the role that we have all got to play in campaigning and pushing the government to live up to the commitments in order to match our targets. This message from our Students’ Union should serve as an inspiration for Sheffield students.
COP-26 has undoubtedly delivered less decisive and concrete action than many would have liked, though it has kept the issue of Climate Change at the forefront of political discussion. If we can keep it there for the next year then perhaps current commitments can be built on at COP-27.
Cover photo taken by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.com