COP26
By Ailbhe Doyle
The united nations annual ‘Conference of the Parties’ is where world leaders examine the current state of climate change and formulate plans to tackle the most pressing issues. For example, the Paris agreement (yes the very important one Trump left on a whim) was written up in the COP21 summit in 2015. In summary, the Paris agreement meant that there was a global consensus to reduce emissions and plan future developments more sustainably. It was to be reviewed after five years but had to be postponed, like everything else, because of COVID 19.
It has a big topic for months now, and a big part of that is due to the extra year it had to be pushed back. This last year, when mandatory lockdowns meant less cars on the road zero planes in the sky and many factories shut down, we saw a huge drop in pollution. Chinas famous smog vanished and the water in Venice became clear and full of marine life. With so many natural improvements after mere months of seriously reducing our emissions it highlighted the difference world leaders could be making with very few simple decisions. Furthermore, within the last few years, attention has been given to many big environmental movements such as ocean plastics and the increasingly extreme weather events. Greta Thunberg has also entered the scene and has mounted pressure on world leaders to stop their all-talk-no-action approach. This summit is especially critical because unfortunately, countries are not doing enough and the majority will not reach their targets set in COP21. Therefore, this year in particular, the pressure and tension leading up to this conference is huge and expectations are high for action.
It has been predicted that the main discussions of COP26 will include:
• maintaining the goal of a maintaining global temperatures, or global warming, to below 1.5 degree Celsius.
• further emphasis on adaption to, as opposed to constant mitigation (some may call it denial) of the changing climate.
• loss and damage are also predicted to be a major point of discussion, due to the increasingly extreme weather we have witnessed in the past five years, linked to the financing of national damage and loss through international aid and support.
• meeting the 100bn/year climate finance goal through new funds and grants for climate action and the imbalance of climate finance in developed and developing countries will be a big discussion.
• The rules introduced in the Paris Agreement will also be finalised during this conference in an effort to increase global pressure on facing climate change within the lessening time frame available to us.
In Ireland, in terms of following the EU guidelines for reducing emission significantly to below those recorded before 1980, we are completely off course, and are in fact increasing by two-million-tonnes a year, instead of reducing by one-million-tonnes a year to reach the 2050 target… great, I know. However, the awareness for global warming has been climbing, and this transferred to the government with the Green Party winning an extra ten seats in the most recent election. Obviously, this is only the beginning of a necessary governmental shift of priorities. Irish agriculture accounts for 30% of Irish emissions so in the next year there needs to be extreme reviews of the agricultural sector so that a new sustainable attitude can be created towards farming, for both the farmer, the land, and the livestock they are farming.
Energy accounts for 20% of our emissions, which can easily be transformed due to the numerous naturally resources our islands provides; hydropower, wind power, solar power, and biomass, like biogas/landfill gas. If we made these the core producers of our energy, we could make a huge difference to the 20%. If shutting down the power plants meant significant job loss, job transfers could take place into the new green energy sectors. The transport sector also accounts for 20% of our emissions. Another sector that could be completely transformed with an overall switch to electric transport (powered by renewable energy) and a huge improvement in our public transport. Although some electric buses have been introduced to our major cities like Dublin and Galway, much more needs to be done.
If we hone in on these main causes of our emissions and transform the sectors from an environmentally focused position, it is possible for us to reach the targets for 2050. In Glasgow, many protests are set to take place before and during the conference. The biggest probably being on the 5th of November at 11am in Kelvingrove Park to George Square, this one, the marvellous Greta Thunberg will be attending herself. I wouldn’t recommend flying over to see her (because yucky emissions), but there will be online events to stay updated on the negotiations throughout the week. One of these will be held by the Irish Wildlife Trust discussing more about COP26 on Wednesday the 3rd of November at 7pm. It is a webinar with activists and scientists, which you can access by registering with the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aBT03FItRg-elmz8SP_I1w
