350 Wenatchee Climate Conversations NCW

We’re well over halfway through COP26, the most important climate talks since Paris. So far the negotiations have been a mixed bag.

Yes, there has been some progress. Some 100 countries, including the US, struck a deal to slash global methane emissions by 30% by 2030. 21 countries, including the United States and Canada, have promised to end public financing of fossil fuel projects. India committed to getting half of its power from renewables by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2070. Developed countries committed $8.5 billion to help wean South Africa off coal. Financial institutions with $130 trillion in assets announced their commitment to net zero targets. Nations that are home to 85% of the world’s forests signed on to a new commitment to end and reverse deforestationby 2030.

But these pledges fall well short of the 1.5°C target that millions of people and countless species need to survive. Financial institutions that have made net zero commitments are still spending billions funding new fossil fuel projects and have made no plans to change that. The failure of the US, China, India and Australia to sign on to a deal to phase out coal is a major setback. India’s goal of net zero by 2070 is too late. Too few of the largest polluters have signed on to the deals to cut methane emissions and stop public financing of fossil fuel projects. Some nations are already walking back their pledge to end deforestation.

Activists unfurl a 70′ banner outside of Kelvingrove Museum, where executives from financial institutions were having dinner at COP26. Photo by Yellow Coat COP26 Collective.

As we enter the second week in Glasgow, the fight now is to keep the possibility of limiting global warming to 1.5°C alive ― which, as the Prime Minister of Barbados so powerfully reminded us, is what is required for many millions to survive.

“For those that have eyes to see. For those that have ears to listen.
For those that have a heart to feel.
1.5 is what we need to survive.

2 degrees is a death sentence for the people of Antigua & Barbuda,
For the people of the Maldives,
For the people of Dominica & Fiji,
For the people of Kenya & Mozambique, and
For the people of Samoa & Barbuda.

We do not want that dreaded death sentence and
We have come here today to say try harder.”
~ Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, during the COP26 Opening Ceremony

The goal of keeping global heating to 1.5°C has given rise to one of the biggest debates now playing out in Glasgow: when should countries next come together to increase their climate targets?

Under the Paris agreement, nations are only required to increase their climate pledges once every five years, with the next deadline to do so next coming in 2025. With current pledges so deeply inadequate ― they would lead to heating of 2.7°C, according to UN calculations ― the countries most impacted by the climate crisis are demanding that world leaders come back to the climate negotiating table every year from now on, not once every five years as is currently the case.

“World leaders” on a sinking ship on Glasgow’s Clyde canal, a few miles from the COP26 Conference Center. Photo and Action by Glasgow Actions Team.

Rich countries like the US should heed these calls from the Global South and put their full weight behind this demand. If your house is on fire, you don’t only come together once every half-a-decade to extinguish the flames. You treat it like the emergency it is.

Another of the many debates playing out this week centers around climate finance. African nations want discussions to begin around a financing deal that would channel $700 billion a year in climate finance to support adaptation and mitigation in the countries that are facing the brunt of the climate crisis, but have done the least to cause the problem. If justice is to play any role in COP26, then the wealthy nations of the world must also heed this call.

As many of the key negotiations carry on behind closed doors it is easy to feel powerless, yet a major source of hope is to be found outside of the official COP26 talks. On Friday, 25,000 people, including many thousands of school students, joined a massive climate strike. The following day there were hundreds of actions all across the world and more than 100,000 people marched through the streets of Glasgow.

Indigenous leaders from across the world have been on the ground all week, relentlessly pushing back against false solutions and demanding that we keep fossil fuels in the ground. Of all of the many actions, one that we particularly enjoyed was seeing a crowd of hundreds shutting down the Glasgow and Edinburgh offices of JPMorgan Chase.

Photo from the 25,000+ person youth climate strike on Nov 5th.

With so much still up in the air at COP26, seeing so many on the streets gives us hope. For there is one thing we already know for sure ― no matter what happens this week, the climate movement is going to have to find its courage, dig deep and take to the streets in unprecedented numbers in the years ahead.

~ Alec and the Stop the Money Pipeline team

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