They had two weeks to speed up the fight against global warming. One day behind schedule, its president, Briton Alok Sharma, closed on Saturday, November 13, the COP26 in Glasgow (Scotland, United Kingdom), which brought together 196 countries and more than 120 heads of state in bedside of our planet’s climate.
A long-awaited summit, marked by unprecedented advances but considered globally insufficient by observers: as it stands, the world is still heading towards warming “catastrophic” of 2.7 ° C in 2100, according to the UN. The text of the final declarations, grouped together under the name of the Glasgow Climate Pact, was strongly criticized by the NGOs present. “Unfortunately, we note that the text is still far from reflecting the urgency of the situation. There is a huge gap between what we read in it and what science tells us”, regretted Aurore Mathieu, from the Climate Action Network.
Franceinfo takes stock of this 26th world conference against global warming.
Of timid steps forward in the final pact
• The reduction in the use of fossil fuels for the first time mentioned. Engines of global warming, fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) had never had the honors of a final declaration. As recalled researcher Stefan Aykut, they had been withdrawn from the Paris agreement under pressure from Saudi Arabia, a large oil producer. This time around, the international community has stood firm.
But progress remains very limited: member countries are invited to “accelerate efforts towards the gradual reduction of coal-fired energy without a capture system [de CO2] and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies “. As for fossil fuel subsidies, countries are only asked to stop those deemed “ineffective”. By who ? According to what criteria? These questions remain unanswered.
In the home stretch, while everyone agreed on the text, India got the term “gradual disappearance” be replaced by “gradual decrease”. The latest in a long list of changes: the terms “accelerate efforts towards “ did not appear in the previous version of these texts, negotiated and renegotiated since Friday. Previous had already toned down the wording compared to the first one, which did not mention the “capture systems”, technology still little established, and did not specify the term “ineffective” concerning the financing of fossil fuels.
• The emergency on the 100 billion. It was a crucial point of the negotiation for the poor countries: the developed countries, historically responsible for global warming, had pledged to pay them 100 billion dollars a year to help them cope. The final declaration notes “with great regret” that this promise was not kept and the “urge” to do it “urgently” until 2025, date from which this envelope must be reassessed upwards. No compensation for the loss of earnings accumulated by this delay is foreseen.
• A call to improve commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement is based on nationally determined contributions (CDN), quantified greenhouse gas reduction commitments made by each country. At present, they are insufficient to achieve the objectives of the agreement. The final declaration calls on every country “to be revised and reinforced” the 2030 objective of these NDCs by the end of 2022, “to align” with the agreement. But the text evokes the need to “take into account national circumstances”, opening the door to some countries dragging their feet.
• The objective of 1.5 ° C reaffirmed. The statement “reaffirms” the objectives of the Paris agreement: “Keep the increase in global temperature well below 2 ° C” and “continue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 ° C”. The text recognizes that the latter objective requires “rapid, deep and sustained reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions, including reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 45% in 2030 compared to 2010 and achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century”.
A block on “loss and damage”
• No mechanism for “loss and damage”. This strong demand from the poorest countries and those most exposed to the effects of global warming has not been heard. The objective of these countries was to obtain financial compensation for the damage already suffered by storms, droughts and heat waves caused by climate change, a phenomenon in which their liability is very low. Instead, the final declaration proposes to launch a dialogue on this issue.
Thematic agreements on the sidelines of the negotiations
• On deforestation. As of November 2, nearly 180 countries, including France, have pledged to stop deforestation by 2030. This agreement provides for the mobilization of 16.5 billion euros for the protection and restoration of forests. But these commitments, which echo those already made without success in 2014 in the New York declaration on forests, are not binding.
• On methane. This is a historic first for the second gas responsible for global warming after CO2, long ignored by the international community. One hundred and seven countries, including those of the European Union and the United States, have committed to reduce their methane emissions by 30% by 2030, compared to 2020. But this agreement only covers 45% of global methane emissions, high emitting countries like Iran and Russia not having signed it . Agriculture, the main human-made source of methane, is hardly affected by the text.
• On the financing of fossil fuels abroad. Thirty-nine countries, including France, which dragged its feet for a long time, signed an agreement mending foreign financing of fossil fuel projects without carbon capture techniques by the end of 2022. If this commitment is kept, more than $ 15 billion should benefit clean energy, experts estimate.
• On reducing oil and gas production. BOGA, for “Beyond Oil and Gas” (“after oil and gas”), brings together 10 countries, so France and Ireland, behind the commitment of‘accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuel production by setting a deadline (which has yet to be determined). A very close coalition for the moment.
• On zero emission vehicles. A coalition of countries, cities, regions owners of vehicle fleets or shared mobility platforms have announced that they want to “accelerate the transition to 100% zero-emission cars and vans “ of CO2 by 2040. But major market players, such as France, Germany, Volkswagen or Stellantis have not signed this voluntary commitment. It is also less demanding than the European Commission’s proposal to stop the sale of new combustion vehicles in 2035.
New reduction commitments from India and Brazil
The COP26 opened with a summit of heads of state, with a series of speeches. The opportunity for some to update their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Under fire from critics for its environmental policy, the Brazilian government created a surprise by raising its ambitions to reduce CO2 emissions: less 50% by 2030 (compared to 43% previously) and a target “carbon neutral by 2050”. As for India, the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet, it has announced its intention to reach the carbon neutrality in 2070.