Cerys Jones
On 31st October 2021, the 26th Conference of the Parties opened in Glasgow for a fortnight-long round of negotiations, aiming to find a global solution to the climate crisis. Monday, saw statements from various world leaders and activists both inside and outside the Glasgow SEC. Anger, betrayal, fear, and hope were all raw. But were the sentiments of world leaders sincere, and will they be backed up by action and promises kept?
The day got off to a rocky start, with commentators noting apparent organisational failures causing monumental queues for entry through strict security protocols. Once delegates were inside, the opening ceremony was delayed by almost half an hour because of the late arrival of President Biden’s motorcade. This would later draw criticism for seemingly flying in the face of aiming to divest from fossil fuels. Boris Johnson was in for similar criticism though, when it emerged he would be using a private jet to return to London.
Some very British speeches
After a poem from Yrsa Daley-Ward to commence the opening ceremony, Boris Johnson took her place on the stage. His speech highlighted the urgency of the situation, the importance of developed nations shouldering more of the responsibility for solving the crisis, and the potential significance of private sector involvement.
The latter was later emphasised in Prince Charles’ address to the conference, and his mother the Queen, sent a video message calling on world leaders to show ‘true statesmanship’ and make the right decisions for future generations.
The other Brit to take the main conference stage was Sir David Attenborough, who hammered home the degree of change and destruction to the planet over his 95 years on it. He prescribed a new industrial revolution focusing on renewable energy, and called on world leaders to work together towards this goal.
“If working apart we are a force powerful to destabilise our planet, surely working together we are powerful enough to save it”
– Sir David Attenborough, speaking on the first day of COP26.“
Who bears the burden?
The message is clear: those who have dug this grave for humanity must be the ones to winch us out.
Already, a key theme at the forefront of the conference was the appeal for developed nations to do more.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres pointed out in his address that the G20 are currently responsible for roughly 80% of all global carbon emissions. Emphasising, those in less developed and more vulnerable nations are first to pay the price.
Brianna Fruean, a campaigner from Samoa and New Zealand, drew attention to the plight of island nations. Txai Suruí,(an indigenous activist from Brazil), underlined the importance of world leaders considering indigenous peoples. Elizabeth Wathuti of Kenya articulated some of the ways that the climate crisis is already disrupting the food and water supply. Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, made a pointed comment about the absence of certain world leaders – potentially referring to Xi Jinping of China, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, who are all seen as key players in the fight against climate change.
The message is clear: those who have dug this grave for humanity must be the ones to winch us out. But will they?
Will world leaders step up?
There were certainly strong sentiments from many G20 leaders on the first day of the summit, but there is already a wave of criticism that this papers over a gaping lack of action.
Boris Johnson evidently hoped to fortify his claim that Britain would lead the world in the fight against climate change by rolling out the red carpet for speeches from British figureheads. His speech, touted by some, as the most critical and serious of his career, certainly struck a more stark and less humorous tone than some of what the UK has grown used to during his premiership. However, he failed to convince the political head of Greenpeace UK, who chastised him for allowing new fossil fuel projects to go ahead. Unsurprisingly, some are asking how he can hope to be seen as the world’s leader against the climate crisis while simultaneously allowing projects that will increase the very emissions he strives to convince world leaders to reduce.
Joe Biden faced similar criticism from protesters outside the conference, who demanded he take executive action to stop the approval of such projects and declare a climate emergency. President Bolsonaro and President Xi Jinping, both of whom failed to attend the conference, lauded their own countries’ efforts – but Bolsonaro’s detractors said delegates should pay more attention to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest under his rule.
Xi Jinping’s written address to the conference failed to include significant new commitments, though it did restate China’s pledge to cut emissions to net-zero by 2060, bringing them to a peak by 2030. This achievement should be helped by its goal of raising its wind and solar generation capacity to 1200 GW by 2030.
India’s crucial pledge
Possibly the most significant announcement of the day was from India’s Prime Minister Modi, who pledged that India would reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. Modi also announced that India would get half of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. Whilst reducing its projected carbon emissions from now to 2030 by one billion tonnes.
As the world’s third-largest carbon emitter, the cooperation of India in this summit will be critical – so is this enough?
The goal set by Britain, the USA, and the EU for net-zero is 20 years sooner than India’s. Scientists generally agree this is when the world should reach net zero by, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. It would therefore seem that India’s pledge falls short.
However, Prime Minister Modi stressed that India is responsible for only around 5% of greenhouse gas emissions- despite it holding around 17% of the world’s population. It is also positive that such a large player on the global stage, despite reportedly rejecting calls to set a net-zero target as recently as last week, has now made a pledge which can and may well be brought forward. Some have suggested that financial aid from the most developed countries could play a key part in bringing India’s deadline forward, something which could unfold throughout the conference.
The eyes of the world on Glasgow
Not everyone was impressed with the smooth talk of the world leaders at the SEC. There were enormous amounts of protesters from multiple countries and organisations outside the conference centre during the day, and in Kelvingrove Park (near where world leaders were dining) in the evening.
Some protesters are calling for an end to all fossil fuel investments, delivery of the $100bn promised in 2015 to help the most vulnerable countries fight climate change, and more. Among the protesters was Greta Thunberg, leader of the school strikes against climate change. She said “Inside COP there are just politicians and people in power pretending to take our future seriously… change is not going to come from inside there.”
Her words echo the fears of many: that this will be a conference of words, which will not result in the drastic action needed to save the planet. World leaders have rushed to assure us that she is wrong – perhaps the next fortnight will tell.
Image courtesy of Mika Baumeister on Unsplash. Image licence found here. No changes were made to this image.
cerysjones
Cerys is a first-year journalism student at the University of Sheffield with a special interest in news journalism and politics. She has been published in Big Issue North and is also an Instagram Editor at Empoword Journalism. When she's not writing, she is usually watching Manchester United - or her dog has his head on her laptop keyboard.