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Resolutions for more speed in climate protection and global solidarity
In Glasgow, the international community negotiated how to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. This target was agreed at the 2015 climate summit in Paris. At the World Climate Conference, all 197 countries agreed on far-reaching resolutions for more climate protection and more solidarity with the countries that are already hardest hit by climate change. The international community recognises the scientific findings that the world must do significantly more in climate protection this decade to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. For the first time in the history of world climate conferences, the final declaration contains an agreement accepted by all states on an accelerated global energy transition away from coal and on the reduction of subsidies for fossil energies. International climate policy has thus formulated a new economic model. In the past, world climate conferences were mainly about states setting targets - now, for the first time, they are also about how they achieve these targets.
A milestone in the negotiations was the conclusion of the so-called rule book for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. It was agreed, for example, that future climate targets will be presented for five years and reported according to uniform standards and formats. Agreement was also reached on the question of how emission reductions can be traded between countries in the future. It was possible to exclude loopholes in the accounting of emission reductions.
(Source: Each Country's Share of CO2 Emissions | Union of Concerned Scientists (ucsusa.org)
The key decisions of the 26th Climate Change Conference
Coal phase-out: The world should phase out coal combustion, at least if the carbon dioxide produced is not captured and stored. More than 190 states, regions, companies and institutions signed a corresponding voluntary commitment, including Germany. However, the demand to phase out coal was weakened in the final document. Instead of a phase-out, under pressure from the heavily coal-dependent countries China and India, there is now only talk of a phase-down.
The "Glasgow Climate Pact" also includes the demand to remove "inefficient" subsidies for oil, gas and coal.
Improve climate protection plans: By 2022, the countries are supposed to have improved their climate protection plans for this decade, which have so far been inadequate. Until now, improvements were always planned at longer intervals. The new wording underlines the urgency of climate protection, which all countries now see.
The declaration also states that global emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases must fall by 45 % before the end of this decade if the 1.5-degree limit is to remain achievable.
Payments from rich countries: The rich countries are called upon to actually let the money they have pledged for climate protection and adaptation to climate change flow. In 2009, they had agreed in Copenhagen to mobilise 100 billion dollars annually by 2020. This has not happened in full. The payments that have not been made should now be made up for as quickly as possible.
Developing countries should be able to spend more money on adapting to climate change - for example, on dyke construction or climate-resistant agriculture. In concrete terms, financial aid is to be doubled by 2025, i.e. from the current level of around 20 billion US dollars per year to 40 billion (around 35 billion euros).
US-China Pact: The USA and China want to set up a joint working group. The two countries had already made this surprising declaration in Glasgow on 10 November. Both sides want to accelerate the transformation to a climate-neutral global economy, both together and separately, according to the declaration. To this end, they will take more ambitious climate protection measures before the end of this decade. China contributes to 28 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while the US has a share of 15 percent.
Financing forest protection: Germany, together with 11 other countries, pledged USD 12 billion for forest protection by 2025. This will support mitigation and adaptation measures, forest restoration and sustainable development.
International public financing of fossil energies: After Germany already withdrew from international financing of coal infrastructure in 2015, the German government took the next step in Glasgow and joined an alliance of pioneering countries that will end international public financing of fossil infrastructure altogether if it is not compatible with the 1.5 degree path to climate neutrality.
Atom: Together with allied EU states, Germany sent a signal in a joint declaration in Glasgow that nuclear power is not a solution in the fight against the climate crisis and must not be included in the EU taxonomy as sustainable.
Even beyond the official resolutions of the World Climate Conference, there were numerous successes in the framework programme of Glasgow: In addition to the Chinese-American declaration for more climate protection in the 2020s, it is also worth highlighting that India set itself the goal of climate neutrality by 2070 for the first time at the conference. A new alliance to reduce methane emissions found 105 supporters, which alone can lead to a 0.2 degree reduction in global warming. Mathematician and climate modeller Chris Smith from the University of Leeds puts the 0.2 degrees into perspective, as many countries have already planned for methane reduction in their national climate protection plans. According to his calculations, the additional cooling effect only brings 0.02 to 0.05 degrees.
In the case of the other action alliances, the criticism is that not all countries are behind them, sometimes only a few. For example, not a single one of the largest producing countries is participating in the alliance to accelerate the phase-out of oil and gas. Germany, China and the USA, on the other hand, are not participating in the goal of phasing out internal combustion engines by 2040. Even large car companies like BMW and Volkswagen do not support this movement.
Can the 1.5 degree target still be met?
Not with the decisions from Glasgow. According to the calculation of the science network Climate Action Trackers warming reaches 2.4 degrees if the solid pledges made in Glasgow, backed by medium-term plans, are met. If even the most non-binding pledges are met, the world will still reach 1.8 degrees. Before the conference pledges, the expected warming was 2.7 degrees, according to the Climate Action Tracker. These are still only pledges; now action must follow.
Assessment of the results of the COP26
German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) praised the deal. "The fossil fuel era is coming to an end, the energy turnaround is becoming the guiding principle worldwide," she said. US climate envoy John Kerry said that in negotiations the supposedly perfect should never get in the way of the good. "And this is good."
Greta Thunberg had already described the COP26 as a "greenwashing festival" at a major event on 05.11.2021 and had taken to the streets at half-time together with tens of thousands of demonstrators and then left. After the conference ended, she tweeted to take stock: "COP26 is over. Here is the short summary: Blah, Blah, Blah".
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, also expressed his disillusionment. "It is an important step, but it is not enough. It is time to go into emergency mode."
What happens after the conference?
In 2022, the states will submit new climate targets, which will then be discussed at the next climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. There, the climate targets are to be further increased. In order to still be able to achieve the 1.5 degree target, however, increasingly drastic measures will become necessary as time goes on.
Climate protection is a topic that affects us all! The MuP Group is helping to achieve compliance with climate targets as part of "Engineering for a Better Tomorrow". Through M&P GO.BLUE.NOW, the limitation of global warming to 1.5° is pursued together with customers and partners.
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