COP26: the Paris agreement saved in extremis in Glasgow
Posted on Nov 13, 2021, 11:39 PM
Awarded! The delegates of the 197 parties represented at COP 26 were given their approval on Saturday evening, by consensus, to the text presented by Alok Sharma, its British president. After two failed tries, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s right-hand man, who presented himself as the savior of the Paris Agreement, will have finally fulfilled his mission, but not in as triumphant a way as he would have liked .
“I apologize for the way the process went. I am deeply sorry, ”said the former Conservative MP with a lump in his throat. While the approval of the agreement seemed acquired, India recognized a real coup by ant the principle of a gradual “exit” from coal which seemed to be recorded in this “Glasgow Climate Pact”. Instead, the Indian representative opposed the notion of a gradual “reduction” of this fossil, which the plenary assembly endorsed so as not to derail the final decision.
“It is a disappointment”, reacted immediately Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the European Commission. The latter nonetheless qualified the approved text as “historic”. A document which also calls for an end to “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies. The designation of coal as the resource we must learn to do without to save the planet is unprecedented. For two weeks, the countries most vulnerable to climate change, made just as bitter by this last-minute turnaround, have continued to fight to put this fossil on the index.
Very tight timing
In Glasgow, the challenge was to continue to make the prospect of a warming limited to 1.5 degrees even more credible. A real measure insofar as the climate commitments of States, assessed by the United Nations just before the COP, lead to a rise in mercury of 2.7 degrees.
At the end of the agreement reached on Saturday, the countries recognized the need to act quickly to keep the 1.5 degrees in agreement of 2030 (compared to 2010) their greenhouse gas to achieve carbon neutrality in the twenty years that will follow. To keep this very tight timing, the States have agreed to increase their voluntary national contribution to reduce their emissions from the end of 2022. Some may possibly benefit from adjustments for “special national circumstances”.
Taste of unfinished business
On the issue of funding for developing countries, the rich countries have done their mea culpa. And they still gave themselves until 2025 to pay the 100 billion dollars per year that they had promised in Copenhagen in 2009 for 2020. adaptation of the poorest states to this same envelope. An effort they have been calling for for a long time.
Finally, after six years of fruitless negotiations, the countries have agreed on the rules governing and functioning of the global carbon markets. Measures must prevent the same emission reductions from being counted twice by States or companies. It also sets transparency rules in this area.
A life sentence
In the end, this COP26 leaves behind a taste of unfinished business, particularly when it comes to taking into account the losses and damage caused by warming to vulnerable countries. ” It’s not enough […]. The climate catastrophe is still knocking on the door, ”warned Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations.
“It’s soft, it’s weak, and the lens of 1.5 degrees and barely alive,” laments Jennifer Morgan, director of Greenpeace International. “Coal is in the text”, rejoices Laurence Tubiana, the architect of the Paris agreement who regrets that “this COP has not succeeded in providing immediate assistance to people who were currently waiting”.