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The UN Climate Conference is now over for this year.

What has it achieved?

In this blog I am going to cover mainly the positive results, and save what they missed and what we need to do about it till the next blog which you can see here.

What do people think?

There are endless opinions on what COP26 has achieved and while they all seem different there appears to be one thing they agree on: it has not been a rip-roaring success.

It was clear from the beginning, certainly to the people that understand these things, that COP26 was not going to come up with the agreements we wanted and needed. That is just the nature of these Conferences.  However many good things have come out of it, not necessarily what one might have looked for, but definitely something to feel a bit optimistic about.

For me, but not just me, there was the feeling that the politicians have finally got a feeling of real urgency about the situation we are in. That is clear also in the tone of the final text.

Remarks from the final text

The Paris Agreement of 6 years ago set a target of holding global warming to “well below 2 degrees Centigrade”. The final text this time reaffirms that, but also says they will pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees C.  It also recognizes that the impact of Climate Change will be much lower if the increase is below 1.5 degrees C.

The text also asks countries to come back next year with more ambitious plans to cut emissions. That seems to be a success on the part of developing countries.  Hopefully what will happen now is that people will go home to their governments with a sense of urgency, and come back ready to really negotiate a better result.

Listen to this Outrage and Optimism Podcast for more information on the best and worst of the Conference.

Many of the good things have come out of the non-official Conference. In other words the background meetings, the contacts, the financial investors who have come up with important ideas, the technologists and of course the protestors both present and those unable to come.

The biggest raspberry seems to go to the British Government who have scored a series of own-goals leaving them with an up-hill struggle when trying to persuade the delegates to agree with them. They are seen to be going against the grain in talking about opening a new coal mine in Cumbia and perhaps even worse they are supporting the start of major new drilling for oil off the Shetland Isles. There is talk of the drilling continuing past 2050.

The government also cut the overseas aid budget by £4-5 billion this year in a particularly ill-timed move. You can probably imagine the effect of this on the developing countries who are still fighting for the financial help they were promised twelve years ago in Copenhagen to help them adapt to Climate Change (caused in the main by the richer countries in the developed world).

I am, of course, clear that we are not the only country doing these things. Many are much worse, but for the UK to act like that as Hosts of the Conference certainly limited its credibility in negotiating.

What other good results have come from the Conference?

Finance

Although the developed world has not come up with money for adaption the ex-Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney has come up with trillions of dollars of private capital to help activities such as renewable energy. 

I have seen a lot of negative comments about this but it is a novel offer and we must see what comes of it.

Deforestation 

More than 100 countries promised to reverse deforestation by 2030.The pledge includes almost £14bn ($19.2bn) of public and private funds to help them do this.  Apparently this has been done before with little success and since it includes Brazil its credibility must be questioned.

It seems it is better funded this time. So let’s see.

Methane

There is a pact to cut emissions of the world’s second-worst greenhouse gas, methane, by 30% by 2030. Big emitters China, Russia and India haven’t signed, but it’s hoped they will join later.

This is a relatively easy thing to do to cut carbon emissions so hopefully it will go ahead.

Creating markets

Forty nations led by the UK and including China, India and the US, will impose standards, incentives and rules, to create markets for new technologies. This could be transformative if it works. The partners might, for instance, agree a date by which a certain percentage of steel is made without using coal. This would give investors the confidence to know that markets for innovative technologies would be available, and could radically lower the price of clean technology worldwide.

This one looks really interesting and could be a very useful way forward.

Clean energy

In what could be a new paradigm for helping countries to transition to clean energy, South Africa will get £6bn ($8.5 billion) to get rid of coal, in a deal with France, Germany, the UK, the US and the EU.

South Africa’s national utility Eskon is the world’s biggest polluter because of its use of dirty coal technology.  So this looks like a great step forward.

Many countries have agreed to reduce their dependence on coal and there was also agreement on reducing fossil fuel subsidies.

This will not be easy for some however there is room for optimism. China has already said it will stop funding overseas coal projects.

India

They have set aggressive targets for low-carbon power by 2030. Some people are worried that Modi doesn’t plan to end greenhouse gases until 2070 – but the world will have changed completely by then, and India is likely to be forced economically come into step.

UK Rules

Most big UK firms and financial institutions will be asked to show how they intend to hit Climate Change targets. Plans will be submitted to an expert panel to ensure they are real.

I think if they really do this the practice will spread, and change how we do business.  Many companies are doing this already.

Protecting Nature

For the first time in all these climate negotiations, the text mentions the protection, conserving and restoring of nature and ecosystems to achieve the required temperature goal. This includes protecting forests and marine ecosystems to allow them to act as carbon sinks and reservoirs. It includes protecting biodiversity.

US and China

These two countries have signed a joint agreement that commits the world’s two largest polluters to talk to each other on enhanced climate actions and to do it this decade.

This could be quite exciting, provided Donald Trump doesn’t get back in again!

Smaller groups of countries have signed agreements on transport, agriculture and not financing fossil fuel companies in the future as well as not funding the opening of new coal mines on foreign soil.

So there has been a lot going on in “back rooms” at the Conference. So many good things are happening. The issue as always is time.

This then is the up-side. Probably there will be more information released as people get back home and everybody gets a chance to reflect on what we need now.

What Next?

I am planning to write another blog very soon to discuss the things we missed out on, and what that means.  In the meantime, get active!  This will only work if we make it work.

• Talk to your family, friends and colleagues and ask them what they know about Climate Change.
• Find a way to help them get active.
• Read about what we are doing to our environment and think what you can do.
• Join an organisation like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth or Extinction Rebellion and see how you can help, even if it is just giving them money.
• Buy the Guardian and read what they have to say about the future. They are really working hard at getting the information out there.
• Think about how you can buy less and travel better.
• Become a vegetarian or – at least – eat less meat.

Thank you for reading this. Please join my blog list. I would like to get as many people as active as possible!