good news, queue and big promises … takeaways from the early days of the climate conference

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Before the opening of the COP26 in Glasgow (United Kingdom), many voices were already raised to predict a fiasco. But at the end of the first week of negotiations, Friday, November 5, the results are more mixed. Between ambitious commitments and promises of big money, franceinfo lists the good and bad points of the UN climate conference.

An obstacle course

You had to be patient to come and listen to the heads of state gathered at COP26, Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 November. Endless queue outside, security checks … There was up to an hour and a half of waiting to finally enter the site, for a start to the summit placed under the sign of annoyance.

According to several NGOs, thousands of experts were unable to attend the negotiations, failing to enter, victims of a long and complex health control process. Lack of access for people with reduced mobility to buses providing the shuttle to the conference site, the Minister ofe Israeli Energy, which is moving in a wheelchair, was deprived of a COP on Monday. Karine Elharrar was finally greeted the next day, by a Boris Johnson embarrassed.

In addition to physical access to the event, this first week also highlighted the difficulties encountered by small delegations from Southern countries. Complicated health measures, prohibitive cost of accommodation, logistical difficulties … So many constraints that reduce certain nations to virtual silence.

Confirmation of the limit at 1.5 ° C

In 2015, the Paris climate agreement endorsed the objective of contain “the rise in the average temperature of the planet significantly below 2 ° C compared to pre-industrial levels”, ideally below 1.5 ° C. Six years later, this lowest figure is gaining ground in discussions between negotiators and in speeches by heads of state. A shift of the cursor to what was requested from the start by scientists and the most vulnerable countries: “1.5 ° C is what we need to survive”, recalled the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley. “Two degrees is a death sentence” for many countries like his, threatened by rising sea levels.

Will this stated goal materialize? At the opening of COP26, the sum of the pledges of each country still led to a rise in temperatures of around 2.7 ° C by the end of the century. But with the announcements of the week, the trajectory would approach a little more than the fateful threshold of 1.5 ° C: it would now lead us to +1.8 ° C, estimated the International Energy Agency. Provided, of course, that the promises are kept.

Surprise promises

To achieve this 1.5 ° C target, some of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters are dragging their feet. 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, has announced its intention to achieve carbon neutrality in 2070.

Real fake news

On deforestation. Monday evening, more than a hundred countries sheltering 85% of the world’s forests committed to halt deforestation by 2030. No fools, the NGOs recall that this agreement only repeats the promises of the New York Declaration on forests (link in English), signed by 38 countries in 2014. There was already talk of halving deforestation by 2020, and efforts to end it by 2030.

Nothing new either regarding the presence of Brazil among the signatories: the country “pledged to eradicate illegal deforestation on its soil in 2015 and that still hasn’t happened”, notes the geographer François-Michel Le Tourneau, research director at the CNRS and specialist in the Amazon. Worse, Indonesia, a signatory country that is home to the third largest tropical forest in the world, has already backed down on its commitment.

On methane. On Tuesday, a hundred nations, representing more than 40% of global emissions of methane, have promised to reduce emissions of this greenhouse gas at least 30% by 2030, compared to 2020 levels. Again: no surprise. The European Union and the United States had announced this “global engagement” from September, specifying that a “initiative” would be launched at COP26.

If the objective “collective” was already listed in black and white, only eight countries, in addition to the EU, had expressed their support. True, the three biggest polluters – China, Russia and India – are missing, but “aWith so many countries on board, this commitment can make a real difference in the rate of temperature rise “, hopes the president of the American think tank World Resources Institute (link in English).

A charcoal vigil

At the initiative of the British government, more than forty nations have embarked on a “declaration of transition from coal to clean energy”. It includes countries in the “top 10” users of this resource for electricity production, such as South Korea, Indonesia and Poland. On the other hand, major players in the sector – Australia, China, India, United States, Japan or Russia – are not among the signatories.

At the same time, around twenty countries (including major investors such as the United States and Canada) and financial institutions have committed to putting an end, by the end of 2022, to the financing of fossil energy projects abroad. without carbon capture techniques. “It’s great that there is this deal on coal, but it is largely insufficient since this will not prevent the construction of new plants in China or elsewhere“, reacted on franceinfo Sandrine Mathy, research director at CNRS. Good news, however: this new plan includes gas and oil for the first time. It also contains the promise to redirect this money towards renewable energies.

Finally, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union announced to mobilize 8.5 billion dollars for “accelerate the switch from coal to renewable energies ” in South Africa, country very dependent on this source of energy decidedly has been.

A parade of the rich

According to Daily Mail, “400 private jets have landed in Glasgow” for the COP26. On board, executives, personalities and billionaires, like Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. At the head of an empire based on consumption and online commerce, promoter of space tourism, the controversial businessman has promised to give “2 billion dollars allocated to the restoration of nature and the transformation of the food system”. Of themoney intended for Africa to finance an 8,000 km wall of trees. For his part, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, came provide $ 315 million to support vulnerable farmers.

Enough to scold activists and NGOs, quick to point out the responsibility of these aspiring philanthropists in greenhouse gas emissions. “This is no longer a climate conference. It is one of the richest greenwashing festivals. A celebration of business as usual and blah “, criticized Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

The day before, she had participated in an action by several hundred members of the Extinction rebellion (XR) movement against this “dangerous practice” who “misleads the public, makes them believe that we are acting”, according to the spokesperson for the Scottish branch of the organization.


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