In an epic battle of the rich vs. the poor, The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 26 meets this November in Glasgow, at a time when the global north has been battling devastating heat waves, floods, drought, and forest fires. Just how willing are the rich northern countries going to be to meet promises to help out the least developed countries (LDCs) as agreed to at COP15 in Copenhagen?
Matt McGrath outlines in Climate change: 'No more excuses' at COP26 climate summit - poor nations the priorities developing countries believe to be essential for a successful COP. Couched in the tenets of environmental justice, they are integral to bridging a path forward out of the climate catastrophe:
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Cutting emissions: Despite some progress, the sum total of climate policies in place will not keep global warming within the limits that governments agreed in Paris in 2015. An acceleration of net zero targets is urgently needed, led by those with the biggest responsibility and capacity.
- Finance: At the failed Copenhagen COP in 2009, richer countries promised $100bn a year in climate finance by 2020, with increased annual sums from 2025. That target has not been met, say the developing countries - and it needs fixing if they are to trust the richer countries to keep to what they negotiate. This fund is intended to help those lower-income countries adapt to and fight climate change.
- Adaptation: The developing countries are calling for at least 50% of climate finance to be used to help the most vulnerable to adapt to the effects of global warming.
- Loss and damage: The historical failure of richer countries to cut their emissions adequately means that the most vulnerable are already experiencing permanent losses and damage. Responsibilities have to be acknowledged, say the poorer countries and promised measures delivered.
- Implementation: Since Paris, rich and poor have haggled over issues like carbon trading and transparency. The developing countries want to see these questions finally resolved and want all countries to agree five-year common timeframes for their national climate plans.
Given the huge investment in ‘loss and damage’ the developed world is just now beginning to deal with, it’s hard to believe they will be all that eager to meet their pledges to assist the least developed countries, who face a climate ravaged world they had no part in creating. Of the $100bn aid budget, to date, $79.8 bn has been pledged, a significant part of it in loans.
The issue has become "a matter of trust" and rich nations "must deliver now", said Alok Sharma, the president of COP26. (www.bbc.com/...)
In another article, What Is COP26 — and Why Is the Summit a Critical Moment For Leadership on the Climate Crisis?, James Hitchings-Hales writes that this COP is viewed by many as the last chance for us to stop global warming.
"COP26 is a critical moment in history," said Marie Rumsby, Global Citizen's UK Country Director. "It could be a turning point. But without radical pledges to reduce emissions and ensure climate justice — more ambitious than we've ever seen before — the world won't come close. We're running out of time to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis."
The Glasgow summit also marks the deadline for the 196 participating countries to come up with their targets — Nationally Determined Contributions — to lower emissions.
The IPCC report asserts that meeting the Paris target “requires nothing less than deep societal and economic transformations that are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and adaptation measures to cope with the impacts of even1.5°C warming.”
Paul Hawken in Project Drawdown “offers a systems-oriented global study of carbon abatement approaches. Included in its 100 solutions are the standard engineering options (such as on-shore wind, geothermal heat pumps, insulation, and high-speed rail), as well as nontraditional opportunities linked to culture and behavioral choices (such as educating women and girls, adopting plant-rich diets, and reducing food waste). As a whole, these solutions address all 17 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals” (www.pnas.org/...)
As COP26 approaches, there will be inevitable arguments about whether the UNFCCC, after 26 years of work, has the ability and the credibility to handle this existential threat. But if not them, then who?
GOOD NEWS
The new IPCC Report includes – get this, good news
Most encouragingly, the report’s two SSP1 scenarios illustrate that the Paris targets remain within reach. To stay below the main Paris target of 2°C (3.6°F) warming, global carbon emissions in SSP1-2.6 plateau essentially immediately and begin to decline after 2025 at a modest rate of about 2% per year for the first decade, then accelerating to around 3% per year the next decade, and continuing along a path of consistent year-to-year carbon pollution cuts before reaching zero around 2075. The IPCC concluded that once global carbon emissions reach zero, temperatures will stop rising. Toward the end of the century, emissions in SSP1-2.6 move into negative territory as the IPCC envisions that efforts to remove carbon from the atmosphere via natural and technological methods (like sequestering carbon in agricultural soils and scrubbing it from the atmosphere through direct air capture) outpace overall fossil fuel emissions.
ACTION
To be sure, the IPCC report did prompt some people into action — on their keyboards. Google Trends, which tracks search terms that suddenly surge in popularity, revealed a global populace split between freaking out about climate change and wanting to do something about it. Search trends indicate that people were Googling "how to survive climate change" and "how high above sea level am I?", along with questions like "how can I help with climate change?"
The questions people were Googling haven't yet been answered satisfactorily, De Meyer said. "The things that come up don't feel meaningful or they don't feel doable … That's why people keep on asking that question again and again and again." The UN report is scaring people. But what if fear isn’t enough?
Head to Global Citizen’s climate action headquarters here to see how you can make a difference — whether that’s signing petitions urging world leaders, businesses, and philanthropists to do better on the climate crisis, sending emails to G20 ministers to protect natural ecosystems like forests, or shooting off messages to countries like the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands to help farmers adapt to temperature rises.
The writers in Climate Brief work to keep the Daily Kos community informed and engaged with breaking news about the climate crisis around the world while providing inspiring stories of environmental heroes, opportunities for direct engagement, and perspectives on the intersection of climate activism with spirituality, politics, and the arts. The group schedules diaries at 5 PM EST daily and often publishes climate-related news throughout the day.