In the late hours of Friday night (12 November 2021), the COP26 negotiations ended and the Glasgow Climate Pact was born, arriving one day late and three draft proposals, many frustrated delegates, and many disappointed climate activists later. It is easy to look at the past two weeks of COP26, with the news cycle largely focusing on either protests or ambitious commitments announcements, to find all the nuance and importance of the final product of the COP and the Glasgow Pact obfuscated by grandiosity, rage, and resentment.
In essence, the Glasgow Climate Pact’s objective is to cap temperature rise at 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels and build on the resolutions countries have adopted from the Paris Agreement. The three main takeaways from the deal are that: it fails to commit to phasing out coal, it does not provide vulnerable countries with loss and damage reparations for climate effects they are already experiencing, and it emphasizes the provision of climate finance for successful adaptation. Photos from the negotiations show President of the COP, Alok Sharma, tearing up as India’s Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav, introduced the last minute change of watered-down language on coal “phase out” to “phase down” of coal use. To be fair, developing economies such as India have not had the same benefit as countries in the global north have enjoyed, growing their economies without consideration for the planet. Mr. Sharma acknowledged that the pact is a “fragile win” for the environment. “We have kept 1.5C alive—that was our overarching objective, but I would still say that the pulse of 1.5C is weak,” he said.
All are not so cautiously optimistic about the result of the COP. Specifically, there are those from developing nations disappointed by the lack of financial commitment given by developed countries to create a “loss and damages fund.” for vulnerable countries. These countries have historically been and are currently not high emitters, yet are already experiencing effects of climate change as a result of emissions from the global north leading to extreme weather events. The pact recognizes the need for funding to cover climate-related losses but does not include the financial commitments developed countries hoped for. The deal “does not bring hope to our hearts but serves as yet another conversation where we put our homes on the line while those who have other options decide how quickly they want to act,” said Shauna Aminath, the minister of environment for the Maldives. Many developed countries, including Canada, strongly resisted calls for loss and damage reparations. Canada’s Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault said, “I really don’t think we are at the stage where we can start talking about separate funds,” but added that Canada was “happy to see the conversation move forward.” The agreement however does recommit countries to discuss the financial support given to developed countries every two years, and urges them to double the provision of climate finance for successful adaptation.
The importance and the wins garnered at COP are lost if we view the results of the negotiation as black and white. No climate conference is going to provide a silver bullet to combat climate change—that requires a full systems change—or even adequately raise the ambitions that are needed to rapidly reduce carbon emissions while ensuring a just net-zero transition. Yet, the Glasgow Pact can be viewed as a success when we look at the granularity of resolutions which requires stronger transparency on how countries deliver emission reduction pledges, agreements between countries, including Canada, to end billions of dollars in international financing for fossil-fuel projects by the end of 2022 (stay tuned for how this will happen), and stronger commitments towards climate financing. The language of the text does not give all the answers or the clear guidance the world needs to adapt and mitigate climate change, but hope is not lost. If anything, COP26 represents renewed momentum to fight against climate change. At the end of the day, the pact does move the needle forward sufficiently and outline clear future goals that represent meaningful action. Media that covered climate change heavily in the news cycle for the past two weeks, and the public who paid attention, should not take the spotlight off of climate change now that COP is over. COP26 can be viewed as a focusing event to reignite international attention, and ambition to fight climate change. Just because the negotiations are over should not mean politicians are out of the limelight for their duty to implement these commitments. It is time now for the real work to start as delegates and politicians head home to start acting on the resolutions they signed on to. International agreements will not be the key to keeping net-zero alive. The work done on a domestic and subnational level with guidance from these international agreements is where the real changes will happen. It is on all of us to hold our governments accountable to ensure the work done at COP, the attention garnered, and our collective hope is not lost.