The eagerly anticipated 26th session of the Conference of Parties on climate change or COP26 is now underway in Glasgow, Scotland. United States climate envoy John Kerry described the summit as the last best hope.
Over the next 10 days world leaders will try to get consensus for joined action to rein in greenhouse gas emissions and to commit to mobilise financial resources to support low-income countries to deal with the impact of climate change.
Average global temperatures are on track to rise by 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Multilateralism remains a lofty aspiration. It is not clear what the summit will achieve. How we are dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic offers a grim lesson on global collective governance and action.
Nations turned inward to protect their citizens and their economies. Vaccines were hoarded. We experienced and are yet to recover from a truly despicable response to an existential crisis of global proportions. Humanity failed to rally.
The so-called global response to the Covid-19 pandemic inspires little confidence that we can act boldly and collectively to avert the catastrophic 2.7-degree Celsius temperature rise.
To be blunt, the last 25 sessions of the Conference of Parties have achieved very little by way of slowing down dangerous warming. In fact, the planet is 1.1 degree Celsius hotter than the pre-industrial level, and rising.
Tensions are high in Glasgow. The largest share of emissions that have put the planet in peril comes from the United States and Europe. Increasingly, the largest share of emissions will come from emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa.
On the one hand, any drastic commitments to curbing emissions will be seen to undermine the economic growth aspirations of the emerging economies. On the other hand, ambitious emission reduction targets will be seen to penalise the wealthy industrialised countries with economic advantage accruing to China, especially.
It does not help that the leaders of China, Russia and Brazil will not be in Glasgow this week. All three countries are large emitters of greenhouse gases and are critical to reining in emissions if the world is to meet the goal of cutting emissions by 55 per cent by 2030 and limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The real measure of success of COP26 will be how fast the global economy can shift away from the use of fossil fuels—coal, oil and gas. The march of renewables, solar and wind, has been encouraging and irreversible despite the surge in global demand for coal in recent months.
But more must be done to realise the financial commitment by the industrialised nations to support low-income countries adapt to climate change as well as launch their economies on a green growth path.
China, Russia, Brazil and Australia must commit to more aggressive net-zero emission plans.
Scientists and UN bureaucrats must stop scaremongering tactics. Moreover, citizens around the world must continue to mount pressure on industry and their governments for deeper emission reductions.
The views expressed are the writer’s
