The last day of COP26

COP26 has been bringing together parties from across the world to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Open University has official observer status at COP26 and is learning from the conference to inform the university’s wider sustainability mission and inspire students and staff to take action. Here are some of the conference’s highlights, as told by our Open University observers. 

COP26 Diary - 12 November: Stephen Peake, Professor of Climate Change and Energy.

On the last day of COP26, I feel more optimistic about the future. Then again, it is said that satisfaction is a function of expectation. I’ve always believed that ‘keeping 1.5 °C alive’ is an impossible task though aiming for it is not a bad idea. According to Carbon Action Tracker, we began COP26 with a projected temperature of 2.4^oC by 2100, adding up all National pledges. This has notched down by 0.3 ^oC to 2.1 ^oC by 2100 as a result of further pledges during the meeting. Not bad for 2 weeks work, yet, I know, there is massive difference between targets and action.

The expectations for COP26 can be seen as delusional. How could we ever walk away from Glasgow with believable global agreements to reduce global emissions by 45% by 2030? Global emissions continue to rise, despite 30 years of multilateralism. Even the pandemic with all its energy-saving global disruption seems to have had little permanent impact on the business-as-usual trajectory.

The good news is that the many detailed sectoral agreements announced at COP26 demonstrate that the multilateral process is maturing. There is a sense of collective responsibility across the public, third and crucially the private sector to collaborate for climate-safety. We are now working together on smaller, more manageable sector-based problems in the forestry, coal, steel, cement, power, car, aircraft, marine and finance sectors. They can be made climate-safe through international cooperation.

The negotiations may run into the weekend, and however gloomy the press will be, COP26 has taken many steps forward. The long-term promises governments (NDCs) have been strengthened. There is a healthy, dynamic programme of work around adaptation. Financial pledges for adaptation, loss and damage are increasing rapidly. Outside the formal UNFCCC process tens of trillions of dollars of investment is lining up to secure climate-safety.