15/11/2021

(The Guardian) Cop26 Reactions: ‘Rich Nations Have Kicked The Can Down The Road’

The Guardian - Guardian staff

Cop26 president Alok Sharma, centre, speaks during the UN climate conference. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Diplomats, scientists, charities and NGOs have been commenting on the adoption of the “Glasgow climate pact” at the end of the Cop26 conference. Here are some of their initial thoughts.

Laurence Tubiana, one of the architects of the 2015 Paris deal and now CEO of the European Climate Foundation

“Paris is working. Despite the Covid-19 crisis, we have accelerated action, responded to the [scientists’] call to close the gap towards 1.5C, and coal is in the text. But there is a lot more to do.

"The commitments and claims of the first week on finance, forests, end of public finance for fossil fuel, methane and cars must now be translated into real policy and oil and gas production still to be addressed.

“This Cop has failed to provide immediate assistance for people suffering now. I welcome the doubling of adaptation finance as climate impacts are every year stronger, [but] loss and damage must be at the top of the agenda for Cop27."

Vanessa Nakate, climate activist from Uganda

“Even if leaders stuck to the promises they have made here in Glasgow, it would not prevent the destruction of communities like mine. Right now, at 1.2C of global warming, drought and flooding are killing people in Uganda.

"Only immediate, drastic emissions cuts will give us hope of safety, and world leaders have failed to rise to the moment.

“But people are joining our movement. 100,000 people from all different backgrounds came to the streets in Glasgow during Cop and the pressure for change is building.”

Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa

“This summit has been a triumph of diplomacy over real substance. The outcome here reflects a Cop held in the rich world and the outcome contains the priorities of the rich world.

“We are leaving empty-handed [on loss and damage] but morally stronger and hopeful that we can sustain the momentum in the coming year to deliver meaningful support which will allow the vulnerables to deal with the irreversible impacts of climate change created by the polluting world who are failing to take responsibility.”

Alden Meyer, senior associate at the thinktank E3G

“We saw a call here in Glasgow for emergency actions to deal with the existential threat of climate change – and some important initiatives were launched. But whether enough countries raise their 2030 ambition enough to keep 1.5C in reach [when they return in 2022] will be the real test of the success of this Cop26.

“As a lifelong optimist, I see the Glasgow outcome as half-full rather than half-empty. But the atmosphere responds to emissions – not Cop decisions – and much work remains ahead to translate the strong rhetoric here into reality.”

José Gregorio Mirabal Díaz, elected leader of Coica (an umbrella body that includes indigenous leaders from the nine Amazon nations)

“We will always have the hope that we can stop the climate crisis with the support of all, but until now the extractivism development model has deceived the world. This must change now.

“If the solution is to protect nature to avoid climate change, this can only be done with giving land titles for indigenous peoples, allowing us to self-demarcate our territories so that external invasions do not come, whether of oil, gold, mining or any type of extractive exploitation.”

Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International

[On India rewording the language from “phasing out” coal to “phasing down”]

“They changed a word but they can’t change the signal coming out of this Cop, that the era of coal is ending. If you’re a coal company executive, this Cop saw a bad outcome.

“It’s in the interests of all countries, including those who still burn coal, to transition to clean renewable energy, and richer countries need to do more to support the shift. Our future depends on it.”

Rachel Kennerley, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth

“The road to 1.5C just got harder when these talks should have cleared the way to making it a whole lot easier.

“The UK government cunningly curated announcements throughout this fortnight so that it seemed rapid progress was being made. Here we are though, and the Glasgow get-out clause means that leaders failed to phase out fossil fuels and the richest countries won’t pay historic climate debt.

“With the Cop moment over, countries should break away from the pack in their race for meaningful climate action and let history judge the laggards.

"The UK, as a country with huge historical responsibility for emissions, can end support for a mega gas project in Mozambique, pull the plug on the Cambo oilfield, stop the new coalmine in Cumbria and drilling for oil in Surrey. After all, the prime minister talked a big game at the beginning of the fortnight.”

Amanda Mukwashi, CEO of Christian Aid

“We were told that Cop26 was the last best chance to keep 1.5C alive but it’s been placed on life support. Rich nations have kicked the can down the road and with it the promise of the urgent climate action people on the frontline of this crisis need.

“After two weeks of negotiations, the voices of those experiencing the harsh impacts of climate change have largely been excluded and not been heeded. Warm words on loss and damage and finance for developing countries to adapt to climate change are not good enough.

"Rich nations need to accept their responsibility, put their money where their mouths are, and provide the billions needed. Developing nations have done the least to cause this crisis but have shown commitment to tackling it.”

Lord Nicholas Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change

“Overall, Cop26 has been a major step along the way, but it has still left us far short of the target of limiting warming to 1.5C. That it is why it is so important that countries agree to put forward by the end of next year more ambitious pledges for emissions cuts by 2030.

"Cop26 embodied a shared understanding of just how dangerous our current path is, and indeed the dangers of warming beyond 1.5C.

“There is so much work to do over the next 12 months ahead of Cop27 in Egypt. The work on finance will be crucial to raising ambition. If we are slow to unlock the finance, we will be slow to raise the ambition.”

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(Deutsche Welle) COP26: 'Blah, Blah, Blah' As World Nears Climate 'Catastrophe'

Deutsche Welle

Despite governments reaching a global climate agreement at the Glasgow conference, many have been left disappointed with the outcome. Climate campaigners say it's not enough to contain dangerous temperature rises.

After two weeks of climate talks, many left Glasgow disappointed with the compromise negotiators reached

After two weeks of tortuous negotiations, delegates of nearly 200 nations gathered in Scotland's Glasgow city reached an agreement on Saturday to combat climate change.   

The deal "gives us confidence that we can provide a safe and prosperous space for humanity on this planet,'' said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. However, she warned "there is still hard work ahead" and stressed that "there will be no time to relax." The EU's lead negotiator, Franz Timmermans, said the text agreed "keeps alive the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius." He also added that "it is a text which acknowledges the needs of developing countries for climate finance, and sets out a process to deliver on those needs.''

Germany's Environment Minister Svenja Schulze underlined that the pact would speed up global action against global warming and climate change.

"Glasgow is bringing a clear acceleration for climate change, and more speed is necessary," she said. "The fossil fuel era is coming to an end, the energy transition is becoming the model worldwide."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose country hosted the talks, said the deal was a big step forward and he hoped it would mark the beginning of the end of climate change.

"There is still a huge amount more to do in the coming years," Johnson said in a statement. "But today's agreement is a big step forward and, critically, we have the first-ever international agreement to phase down coal and a roadmap to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

"I hope that we will look back on COP26 in Glasgow as the beginning of the end of climate change, and I will continue to work tirelessly towards that goal." Late drama over coal

 There was last-minute drama at the conference, with India raising objections to the text related to coal use in the agreement.

Following India's objections, the language of the deal was watered down from "phasing out" to "phasing down" coal power, weakening the original text.

European countries, environmental campaigners and some small island states that are most under threat from global warming criticized the changes.

Tina Stege, the climate envoy of Marshall Islands, said that the package "is not perfect," pointing out that the change of text on coal and a weak outcome on loss and damage "are blows."

Still, she stressed that progress was made. "It is real progress and elements of the Glasgow package are a lifeline for my country. We must not discount the crucial wins covered in this package."

Alok Sharma. the British official who chaired the Glasgow talks, said he wished he had been able to preserve the originally agreed language on phasing out coal power in the deal.

"Of course I wish that we had managed to preserve the language on coal that was originally agreed," he said. "Nevertheless, we do have language on coal, on phase down, and I don't think anyone at the start of this process would have necessarily expected that that would have been retained."

US and China pledge more cooperation on climate 2min 42sec

'Era of coal is ending'

US climate envoy John Kerry said governments had no choice but to accept India's coal language change, "If we hadn't done that we wouldn't have had an agreement." But he insisted the deal was good news for the world.

"We are in fact closer than we have ever been before to avoiding climate chaos and securing cleaning air, safer water and healthier planet,'' he said later at a news conference.

Climate NGO Greenpeace's executive director Jennifer Morgan stressed that the "era of coal is ending."

"They changed a word but they can't change the signal coming out of this COP, that the era of coal is ending," she said. "If you're a coal company executive this COP saw a bad outcome."
  Indonesia: Coal power comes at a high cost 2min 14sec

'Extreme disappointment' over 'loss and damage'

Vulnerable and poorer nations have argued for decades that rich countries owe them compensation for the irreversible damages from climate shocks.

But wealthy countries fear being found liable for natural calamities and having to pay massive sums in compensation every time an environmental disaster strikes.

As a result, no UN climate conference has resulted in any funding under the "loss and damage" tag for the countries most affected.

The Glasgow pact also failed to make much progress on the issue, given resistance from the US, the EU and some other rich nations.

Guinea, representing the developing-nation group at the talks, expressed "extreme disappointment" at the decision to initiate only a "dialogue" to talk about "arrangements for the funding of activities to avert, minimize and address loss and damage."

Low-lying small island nations that fear losing much of their land to rising sea levels — from the Marshall Islands to Fiji and Antigua — also said they were dissatisfied the fund they had called for had not been created.

Effects of deforestation in South America 2min 46sec

Nothing but 'blah, blah, blah'

 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the agreement was a compromise.

"The approved texts are a compromise. They reflect the interests, the conditions, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today," he said.

"They take important steps, but unfortunately the collective political will was not enough to overcome some deep contradictions."

He also warned that our planet is "hanging by a thread" and that "we are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe." Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, meanwhile, said that the COP26 talks had achieved nothing but "blah, blah, blah."

"The real work continues outside these halls. And we will never give up, ever," the figurehead of the Fridays for Future movement posted on Twitter.

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(AU Climate Council) COP26 Ends With Stark Warning: Step Up On Emission Cuts This Decade Aus, Or Pay The Price

Climate Council


AUSTRALIA’S international reputation has taken a battering as nations leave COP26 with a renewed sense of urgency to act on climate change this decade.

The negotiations, which came to an end around 6.45am AEDT this morning, place enormous pressure on Australia to step up its efforts during the critical years ahead.

The Glasgow Climate Pact requires countries to strengthen their 2030 climate targets in 2022, recognising global emissions must fall 45 per cent by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5°C – a matter of survival for many vulnerable communities.
For the first time in 26 years of COP summits, there is a specific call to move beyond coal power and phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
Climate Council Head of Research Dr Simon Bradshaw said 140 countries lifted their game on climate action at COP26, while Australia cemented its reputation as a laggard and blocker.

“The federal government showed up empty-handed to a pivotal moment in the fight for our future. They’ve let down our Pacific neighbours, as well as Australians who do not deserve to endure more frequent and severe bushfires, floods, droughts and heatwaves,” Dr Bradshaw said.

“As our allies and trading partners rise to the climate challenge, we’re stuck in a polluting past with a handful of countries including Russia and Saudi Arabia. The Government’s own Net Zero modelling, released two days ago, predicts Australia will still be a major coal and gas exporter in 2050.

“The Glasgow Climate Pact has made it very clear that our government must come back to the table next year with a stronger 2030 target. It’s time to slash carbon pollution this decade, as if our futures depended on it – because they do.”

Pledges made at COP26 still leave the world on track for over 2°C of warming, and so success depends on these commitments and actions being rapidly scaled up in the wake of Glasgow.

Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said: “The federal government has tarnished Australia’s good name in Glasgow failing to put forward a meaningful 2030 emissions reduction target.

“All Australians will pay the price. We’re the sunniest country in the world but we’re missing opportunities in the clean energy race. We are feeling the worsening consequences of climate change.

“Australians all over the country are doing their best and will rightly be disappointed. They are rolling up their sleeves to do more on climate, but the Morrison government is all talk no action. It’s downright reckless.

“The Morrison government must do better. All new fossil fuel expansion must cease, and we need to phase out their use as quickly as possible. Let’s show the world what we’re really made of.”

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