THE SECOND WEEK OF COP26 ALL WRAPPED UP.
COP26 was meant to have finished on Friday afternoon, where world leaders would’ve presented a new proposal to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement through concerted efforts to keep 1.5C “alive”. As with most COPs, the negotiations have overrun. COP 26 has now officially wrapped up its final days of the climate summit in Glasgow. The last week has brought us several new international commitments on issues ranging from low carbon infrastructure development to hydrogen technology.
Climate Justice
Human rights were a big debate in the final days of COP26 lead by the civil society activists that made a final push for climate justice. This included youth activists and indigenous groups that have previously been excluded from main events being given an opportunity in a unique COP process, by submitting “a People’s Decision for Climate Justice,” as part of work spearheaded by the COP26 Coalition. This raises ten clear points that need to be addressed by wealthy and high-emitting nations on behalf of the world’s most affected and vulnerable communities, covering adaptation; finance and debt; skills; human rights; improving the inclusivity of COP processes and preventing greenwashing.
Fossil fuels
The phasing out of fossil fuels has been downplayed in the updated version of the latest draft text, the language has been watered down slightly. It now only calls for the phase-out of “unabated” coal power and “inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels.” It comes after nations such as Saudi Arabia lobbied for the reference of fossil fuels to be removed from the documents altogether. The “final draft” keeps the most recent references in but “recognises” the need for support towards a “just transition.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to break their “addiction” to fossil fuels, as it is “pushing humanity to the brink.” On biodiversity, he also accused them of historically treating nature “like a toilet.”
He delivered a similarly strongly-worded speech on Thursday afternoon, as the official involvement of non-state actors at COP26 was closed. “The climate action struggle requires all hands on deck – it is everyone’s responsibly,” he said. “I am inspired by the voice of civil society, of young people keeping our feet to the fire. By the dynamism and example of indigenous communities. By the tireless engagement of women’s groups. By the actions of more and more cities around the world. By a growing consciousness, as the private sector aligns balance sheets and investment decisions around net-zero.
“Governments need to pick up the pace and show the necessary ambition on mitigation, adaptation and finance in a balanced way. We cannot settle for the lowest common denominator. We know what must be done.
“Net-zero pledges require rapid, direct emissions cuts this decade… promises ring hollow when the fossil fuel industry still receives trillions in subsidies, as measured by the IMF. Or when countries are still building coal plants. Or when carbon is still without a price, distorting markets and investor decisions.”
Additionally, Antonio Guterres said the UN’s body for assessing the credibility of net-zero commitments from non-state actors would be operational from 2022. “We need to hold each other accountable ... governments, non-state actors and civil society,” he stated.
Oil and Gas alliances
Denmark and Costa Rica launched their highly anticipated alliance on Thursday the 11th of November requiring nations to set an end date for new oil and gas licensing and plans to phase out existing capacity. The Alliance includes Wales, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, Greenland, California and Quebec. Many may wonder why many governments, who are not oil and gas producers, had joined and why the world’s largest producers, such as the US, Russia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Norway and the UK, were not present.
Costa Rica's environment minister Andrea Meza said: “This is about early movers. It is about having courage. This is just the starting point, with few countries – maybe not the big oil producers, but those who have the courage to do something” in his argument about the need to keep undrilled oil fields undrilled. Danish climate and energy minister Dan Jørgensen said the initiative is already in dialogue with “many other countries.”
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, on his visit to Glasgow on Wednesday the 10th of November, that the UK “would see” what Costa Rica and Denmark were proposing with their new Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance – despite the fact that it had been confirmed the UK would not join immediately.
He stated in a press conference that the hydrocarbon age is coming to an end. However, he then gave a separate interview stating that hydrocarbons have a long future – so long as we “liberate the hydrogen from the carbon,.” This has been widely criticized.
USA and China collaborate on climate agreement
In recent years China and the USA have been on the top of the list of global emitters without any plan to reduce emissions. On Wednesday evening a joint declaration was announced, by both nations, on their plans to address climate change.
The declaration confirms that the two nations will convene a joint working group regularly, with the first meeting set for early 2022, on issues including methane emissions, low-carbon energy and deforestation. The aim will be to flash out long-term net-zero plans with "concrete" actions to be taken this decade. The nations call for "stepped-up efforts" to close the "significant gap" that remains to a Paris-aligned world.
There are commitments to strengthen national and sub-national methane reduction targets and to assess whether 2030 NDCs are 1.5C-aligned ahead of COP27. Little is said in the way of new commitments. Reaction to the agreement has been split, with some berating the lack of additional commitments and others noting the symbolic significance of the agreement.
Global declaration on zero emission vehicles fails to get support from US, China, Germany
Transport was the official theme for Thursday, and, building on its own commitments to end new petrol and diesel car sales by 2030 and new petrol and diesel heavy goods vehicle (HGV) sales by 2040, the UK spearheaded a new global declaration on ending ICE vehicle sales. The declaration has been signed by more than 30 countries and dozens of businesses – both those that manufacture vehicles and those that operate fleets. The declaration states that, in keeping with a net-zero world by 2050, all new vehicle sales should be zero-emission by 2035 in leading markets.
There is a 2040 deadline for all other markets, however the world’s three largest car markets, the US, Germany and China, have not signed the declaration at this stage, but businesses, cities and regions in these geographies have. There was also the launch of a separate ‘Count Us In Citizens’ Declaration’, calling on world leaders to ensure that only new zero-emission vehicles are sold in the bus space by 2030, followed by light-duty vehicles in 2035 and heavy-duty vehicles in 2035.
Sector-specific emissions targets on the way for aviation
The aviation industry is responsible for roughly 3% of global emissions. These emissions are the hardest to reduce due to the share nature of aviation. Pandemic aside, it has been growing rapidly in terms of passengers and emissions, so there were hopes for a new agreement on low-carbon aviation ahead of transport day. The day saw 18 nations signing a new declaration in support of the development on emissions targets for aviation that are aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C temperature pathway. The targets will be pre-2050 and developed in line with global net-zero by 2050.
Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain, Turkey, the US, the UK, Korea, Norway, the Netherlands, Morocco, the Maldives, Kenya, Finland, Costa Rica and Burkina Faso are the first signatories to the declaration. These nations are collectively responsible for more than 40% of global annual emissions from aviation. There will also be guidance on which technologies should be used to deliver the commitment, but the declaration does not consider capping growth.
23 nations join cleantech ‘missions’
China, India, the UK, US and EU are amongst the group of 23 governments that announced new plans to catalyse cleantech investment this week, under the ‘Mission Innovation’ platform first convened at COP21 in Paris. Participating nations collectively accounted for 90% of global public investment in low carbon energy innovations made last year.
Adding to existing plans for decarbonising power systems and shipping, the platform announced new workstreams on low-carbon cities, decarbonising heavy industrial sectors, scaling up renewable fuels, decarbonising the chemicals sector and producing renewable materials, and scaling up man-made carbon capture technologies.
Mission Innovation claims that the plans are consistent with an agreement signed by more than 40 world leaders on scaling cleantech and renewable energy solutions last week, called the ‘Breakthrough Agenda’.
Separately, an independent body of experts from the International Energy Agency (IEA), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and UN High-Level Climate Action Champions was appointed to hold nations participating in the Breakthrough Agenda to account. The body is responsible for what is called the ‘Global Checkpoint Process’ – ensuring that nations report annually and advising them on how to move faster if needed.
