Hundreds of people protest outside Arundel Gate Interchange in Sheffield on the ‘Global Day of Action’
As COP26 reached its protracted, dramatic end with negotiations going into stoppage-time like a football team scrambling for a last-minute winner, the overwhelming sense felt was one of bitterness and a missed opportunity. The Glasgow climate summit was billed as a defining moment for humanity in combating the climate crisis in this ‘critical decade’. Then, how, can what has unfolded from COP26 come close to matching the urgency and speed of action that is desperately required?
The pressure seemed to get to Alok Sharma, the COP26 president, in the end. After hours of wrangling and negotiating with delegates, he apologized for how the last-minute Glasgow Climate Pact unfolded. China and India, two of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, and their last-minute assertion for the wording in the agreement for coal to be ‘phased down’ rather than ‘phased out’, was a devastating pill to swallow. Coal is responsible for 40% of annual carbon dioxide emissions.
Phasing out our dependency on it is fundamental in forging the greener, healthier, and more sustainable future we all need. Of course, the two countries will argue western nations have exploited coal for immense financial gain for far longer, but our world will deeply struggle to mitigate global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels if we do not scale down our consumption of it rapidly.
The world is already experiencing seismic loss and damage as a result of climate change. Last summer, Canada and the United States endured large swathes of searing heat, and temperature records were shattered in numerous cities, while the Mediterranean, Greece, and Turkey experienced hellish wildfires. Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium bore the brunt of frightening floods. Twelve people lost their lives as underground railway tunnels were inundated in Zhengzhou, China.
The devastation is growing alarmingly quickly. We are already 1.1C above pre-industrial levels, so it’s disgraceful to know that even if all pledges at COP26 are fulfilled, the global temperature is still predicted to rise to 1.8C (with many scientists saying we are on a trajectory to 2.4C). This crosses the 1.5C threshold stipulated at the heart of the Paris agreement and would not protect us against the very worst impacts of climate change.
A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, meaning a greater temperature rise would result in even more rainfall that raises flood risks. It also increases evaporation, leading to more intense droughts. Try telling that to fishermen in low-lying coastal Bangladesh or communities right across the Sahelian region of sub-Saharan Africa where desertification is already entailing significant crop failure. Many poorer and island nations including the Marshall Islands expressed how profoundly disappointed they were with the final deal of COP26. They are in line to experience the worst repercussions of climate change and yet they have done the least to contribute to this escalating crisis.
Young people are right to feel aggrieved. This is their future. This is the world they are inheriting and it is in disarray. Thousands of people across the globe protested and took part in immense demonstrations on November 6 on the ‘Global Day of Action’ demanding climate justice and for world leaders and corporations to take the transformative and radical action needed to reverse this crisis.
What they want is action. Large stretches of the Amazon rainforest, have now been studied to emit more CO2 than they absorb. So how can people accept that over 100 countries have agreed to end and reverse deforestation by 2030? We simply cannot allow nine more years of ecosystem destruction before we put the brakes on.
Trees are vital carbon sinks, they take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produce the oxygen we need to respire and live. Nine more years of deforestation will only release more CO2 into the atmosphere and reduce our capacity to take in what we have already released. The technological carbon capture solutions which so many world leaders bank on as our route out of this emergency are simply not ready yet to extract the CO2 from the atmosphere that we need to.
COP26 will be greeted positively in some quarters. A level of progress has been made. However, it is a rough slap in the face and brutal kick in the teeth for all young people and poorer nations on the frontline of this escalating emergency. Action and not words are now needed. That will ultimately determine whether COP26 was another cop-out or not.
