Two rather striking images stand out among those from COP26
- Simon Kofe, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Communication of the Polynesian archipelago of Tuvalu, addresses the COP26 (in a suit behind a desk and with water up to mid-thigh) to draw attention to the situation of the islands (including his country) and coasts, threatened with submersion by the rising waters due to global warming.
- The President of the COP, Alok Sharma, in tears as he closed the summit. He said he was "deeply sorry" for the last minute changes introduced in the "Glasgow Climate Pact" by China and India on the issue of fossil fuels: "phasing out" was replaced by "phasing down".
We have waited two years for this COP (the 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference). It was cancelled the year before because of the pandemic. Even if the Covid-19 virus is still circulating, it will finally take place in Scotland from October 31 to November 12, 2021 (plus one day of extension). The Paris Agreement provides for a global review every 5 COPs. During this conference, each country must present its roadmap (or NDC: Nationally Determined Contributions) to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C compared to the pre-industrial era. And then there is the emergency with a succession of disasters (storms, floods, heat waves and droughts sources of countless fires, and agricultural losses ...) announced by the IPCC whose reports are better received than at the summit in Poland in 2018 (see the report "COP24").
After the COP25 in Madrid, we went to Chile. This country was initially supposed to host the event but had to cancel it because of an unprecedented social crisis (see the report "Chile after the COP"). Prevented from going there by the confinements and sanitary protocols, we returned to our computers and used the time to edit the reports on the conference in Spain and our trip to Chile. It was also the occasion to create this new website.
Then, remembering the soaring prices of accommodation (1,000 euros per night!) that had stunned us in Katowice when it hosted COP24, we began in early August to search for a room in Glasgow. Our first contact cancelled the reservation as soon as we exchanged emails and he understood that we were coming for the COP26. Same thing with our second contact! The reason? Knowing that such an event was taking place in their city, they were planning to double or triple the price which was first proposed to us and which we obviously refused. Fortunately, the third attempt was the right one.
To enter the British island, we will have to present a European digital Covid Certificate (a proof of vaccination or recovery), a Passenger Locator Form (PLF) and a paid pre-order certificate for 2 naso-pharyngeal self-tests to be performed on the day of arrival and at D+2. The site to which the English governmental services direct us offers tests at £88 (€104) and more! There are "scrolls": which one to choose? will the cheapest one be accepted by the health authorities? Our English neighbor told us which one she and her family use when they go to the country. Thanks to them!
For the journey, it is impossible to buy a train or bus ticket to the UK. All the web portals inform us that, because of the pandemic, no date can be confirmed. And the chosen airline company cancels our flight one month before departure. Fortunately we could replace it but the landing will not be in Glasgow or in Edinburgh but in Manchester! To us, once on the spot, we will have to find a bus to get to Scotland because it is mission impossible on the internet. Well, "everything" is set!
The day after our arrival in Glasgow, we had a torrential rain (479mm). On the bridge we had to cross, we had water almost up to our knees, that was promising! In the city, despite an extra year to prepare, this conference hosted at the Scottish Event Campus (a convention center and exhibition center in Finnieston street) will be much criticized for its lack of organization. It is accused of elitism because of the scandal of the price of accommodations and because many countries that did not have access to the vaccine could therefore not send delegations. Also, participants with disabilities were blocked and observers were denied entry to the rooms where the negotiations were taking place.
At the previous COP in Madrid in 2019, the unresolved topics of discussion were "greenhouse gas emission reduction targets that need to be increased, support for the most vulnerable countries, and oversight of "carbon markets." In Scotland at the end of 2021, stopping support for fossil fuels and starting to move away from coal was mentioned for the first time. On the other hand, there is still no timetable or constraints for the time being, and the countries that have emitted the most CO2 are delaying paying compensation to countries that are already suffering irreversible damage due to climate change and that must finance their adaptation to climate change. As far as "carbon markets" are concerned, there has been insufficient progress.
Here is a summary of what happened at this 26th COP.
Already, 196 states are present and there is a record of 40,000 registered participants. The leaders of Brazil, China and Russia are absent even though their countries are among the biggest polluters. With the new IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report due out in the summer of 2021, Boris Johnson said "the UK will make 'extremely bold' commitments in four specific areas and encourage the rest of the world to do the same [at COP26]: 'coal, cars, cash, trees'.
Here in Glasgow, some agreements have been reached:
- An alliance of 12 countries (the BOGA: Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance) committed to no longer extracting oil or gas on their territory.
- A coalition of 49 countries (High ambition coalition) has set 15 targets to reach the 1.5°C target.
- Another alliance of 87 countries (GGI-OSOWOG: Green grids. One sun, one world, one grid) to build an interconnected network of solar power plants.
- Two alliances of a hundred states plan to stop deforestation before 2030 and to reduce global methane emissions by 30% before 2030.1"
- Twenty countries [...] and five public banks commit on November 4, 2021 by the end of 2022 to no longer finance projects abroad if they are fossil fuel related and without carbon capture technology.
- And some 40 countries have pledged to abandon coal by 2030 for developed countries and by 2040 for the poorest nations.
"In a sign that worries climate activists, neither the Scottish nor the British government joined the Beyon Oil and Gas Alliance, launched at the Glasgow Cop to anticipate the end of hydrocarbons.
During the negotiations, pressure from India, China and Saudi Arabia weakened the scope of the text, "to the general surprise and while their relations have been strained for several weeks, China and the United States, the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases, jointly announced "to take enhanced measures to raise ambitions during the 2020s", reaffirming their commitment to the objectives of the Paris Agreement." The final demand of the Indian and Chinese delegations, regarding the commitment to get out of coal, they asked and obtained that the word "phase out" be replaced by "phase down". "Before the start of the COP, the United Nations estimated that the warming by the end of the century was 2.7 degrees compared to the beginning of the industrial era. According to estimates, taking into account the new pledges made over the past 15 days, warming would now be limited to 2.2 or 2.4 degrees."
At this COP, we could not access either the blue zone where negotiations between countries take place (because of lack of accreditation) or the green zone dedicated to the public in the Science Museum (the registrations to the green zone were "sold out" as soon as they opened). There was also the counter-summit online (just like the COP) as well as in various places downtown with a very interesting program of conferences. At the entrance, you had to present a negative self-test that we had had but the 2 times we tried to go there it was sold out. As we had already followed the People's Summit in Madrid (see the report "COP25"), we gave up.
But we don't regret anything because, as a result, we were able to focus on the street and document the actions of the XR (Extinction Rebellion) movement. If Greta Thunberg's words hovered over the cop (with her famous "blah, blah, blah", calling these climate summits "30 years of chatter"), the XR activists provided the "show" of demands. The movement was born in the UK and it was interesting to see it in its country of origin.
In Glasgow, XR seemed to us to have decided to do "naming and shaming" (shaming a government, a company, etc ) instead of blocking bridges or roads (which could anger the population). So they targeted banks and companies that finance fossil fuels: 24-hour sit-in in front of Morgan Co and Chase, handcuffed at the entrance of SSE, banners and cleaning session at Bank of Scotland, dances in Square George in front of the statue of James Watt (great contributor to the industrialization of England with his inventions including one of the first steam engines) and then in front of the Gallery of Modern Art (whose building had been built by William Cunninghame of Lainshaw, a great merchant of tobacco and sugar), sirens in front of the COP at the edge of River Clyde ...
We ran around to follow as many actions as possible that were planned in the city and in front of the gates of the Climate Summit. What surprised us was the strong presence of grandparents (#Grandparents for Climate, counterpart of the youth movement Fridays for Future).
You can find here a lot of what we saw in Glasgow. Note that we also present on this site two additional galleries about this 26th COP. The first one is made of screenshots of TV programs broadcasting what was happening in the Scottish Event Campus where the official COP was held. The second one is made of pictures taken during the two big events that took place in Glasgow during this COP26: Climate Strike and the Global Climate March.
Have a good look!