And another COP bites the dust, leaving us desperately disappointed despite participants from the rich developed countries' hollow attempt to “greenwash” the event. What irked me most was US climate envoy John Kerry labeling the Glasgow Pact produced by the 26th conference of the parties as “the starting pistol.” Right. After 25 previous attempts, we can claim success because the terms “fossil fuels” and coal were included in the final document for the first time. Because negotiators have agreed to resubmit their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) next year rather than five years out. Because the power brokers in the rooms also agreed to expand climate finance to the Global South from $100b to $500b by 2025.
The pledges on emissions cuts made at the two-week Cop26 summit in Glasgow fell well short of those required to limit temperatures to 1.5C, according to scientific advice. Instead, all countries have agreed to return to the negotiating table next year, at a conference in Egypt, and re-examine their national plans with a view to increasing their ambition on cuts. www.theguardian.com/...
In the UNFCCC system, nothing is written in stone. Unlike the Montreal Protocol, nothing is mandated or binding.
As the dust settles on this colossal failure, where over 500 fossil fuel lobbyists compromised one of the largest negotiating blocs, we remain on a trajectory towards a 2.4 degrees C increase in global temperatures. And that is a conservative estimate.
“Activists are exhausted and disappointed,” writes climate activist Louis Mitchell. “We’ve been loud, and we have done everything we can. We were promised so much by leaders in the opening days, but in the end, the outcome is just as we predicted. While many may say that COP26 was a step in the right direction, a small step in the right direction is not enough. COP26 was not enough. COP26 was a betrayal to the millions of people who are suffering around the world today.
One of the promising things to emerge from the climate talks was the announcement of the launch of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), a government alliance of both national and subnational governments whose goal is to establish a date to end fossil fuel exploration and extraction in the quest to keep global heating from surpassing 1.5 degrees C.
The hope is that many other nations will feel pressure to sign on.
“BOGA is a first-of-its-kind alliance of governments determined to set an end date for their oil and gas exploration and extraction and curtail new licensing or undertake other significant measures that contribute to the joint goal of aligning oil and gas production with the objectives of the Paris Agreement,” according to a press release issued by the alliance.
Members include Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Greenland, Ireland, Quebec, Sweden and Wales as core members; California, New Zealand and Portugal as associate members. Italy joined as a “friend” of BOGA.
“The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance raises the bar from climate action. If we want to address the climate crisis, we need a managed but decisive phase out of oil and gas production. I am delighted that new members are joining forces with Costa Rica and Denmark to set a date for the end of fossil fuel production. We invite other national and subnational governments to join BOGA and align their oil and gas production with the goals of the Paris Agreement”, said Andrea Meza, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica.
“Science has made it clear - the fossil era needs to come to an end. This is why Denmark has set an end date for oil and gas production. And why we are building this alliance of countries willing to step up to the plate. BOGA will help to spur momentum for countries to phase out their production of oil and gas while creating a clean energy economy”, says Danish Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen.
The founding members all signed up to the BOGA Declaration pledging to support a socially just and equitable global transition to align oil and gas production with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
“We can actually see it working,” Jorgensen says. “Policymakers all around the planet will be asked by journalists and civil society now, ‘why are they not joining this?'”
While this kind of diplomatic pressure might not work on the world’s worst polluters, it may make a difference for developing nations, particularly because the BOGA countries have pledged to provide members with technical support to phase out oil and gas. “You’re not going to change the Russias, the Saudi Arabias of this world with this initiative, but you can perhaps tip the balance on Algeria, Mozambique, perhaps even Nigeria,” says Lisa Fischer, a program leader at E3G, a European climate think tank. time.com/...
The Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance has the potential to help reframe the global climate conversation to ensure that the need to phase out oil and gas can no longer be ignored. And the countries that join the alliance, most notably, have to adopt measures to end new oil and gas exploration and extraction.
But the question—both on the significance of BOGA and of the entire premise of COP26—is whether those diplomatic forces can work at the speed the science demands. “You might write to say ‘shouldn’t [this] have happened years ago?’ And I would agree with you,” says Jorgensen. “But the fact of the matter is we’ve discussed coal, but we haven’t really discussed an agenda for oil and gas for some reason, so that’s why we think it’s important that we have some countries that take this important first step.” time.com/...
Action
Tell World Leaders: Join the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance and keep the world on a path to 1.5°C
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World leaders,
The climate crisis is here and fossil fuels are the cause. I call on you to join the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance and share your plan for managing the phase out of fossil fuel production.
Joining the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance is an important step towards a managed phase out of fossil fuel production.