I’m sitting on the floor, strategically positioned to plug my phone into the wall while avoiding getting trampled by the many hundreds of sustainability-folks making their way around COP26’s Blue Zone.
By turns thrilling and frustrating, optimistic and overwhelming, tedious and turbulent – this year’s climate conference in Glasgow was as surreal as its predecessors.
It was the first summit that would address what has and hasn’t been achieved following 2015’s Paris Agreement, and to set new targets that would keep us on track for 1.5 degrees.
But if you think its job is to set out the absolute minimum criteria for what every country in the world, from Sweden to Saudi Arabia, can agree to – then it was a success.
The biggest achievement was the creation of the Glasgow Climate Pact, a detailed document outlining political decisions that build towards a more ambitious climate response.
The specific: In an important move, it was decided that the review and update of countries’ pledges would switch from a five year cycle to an annual cycle.
Businesses will need to speed up their own timelines to stay ahead of this growing sense of urgency.
A previous target of $100 billion a year, set out in the Paris Agreement and in the SDGs, has been missed – and COP26 acknowledged that no retrospective payments will be made.
The signal: There’s money for infrastructure, as long as it’s climate proofed.
It’s much like when driving a car: the developed world has been driving the climate car for many years and crashed it into the Global South.
The signal: For those who were already well versed on the topic of loss and damage, the fact that there wasn’t a facility was a crushing disappointment.
The specific: One of the more dramatic episodes of COP26 unfolded when India, with the backing of China, refused to accept the language of ‘phasing out’ funding for unabated coal.
And while every country would argue its fossil fuel subsidies are efficient, the agreement gives permission and confidence to some of the countries who would like to stop investing in oil and gas to do so.
The specific: In an important upgrade on previous agreements, the words ‘climate justice’ and ‘just transition’ have made it into the Glasgow Climate Pact.
This involves tightening the rules around offsetting, for example closing down loopholes in double counting, allowing minimal carry over from the Kyoto Protocol, and not allowing REDD+ carbon credits to be counted.
The specific: The perspectives and needs of indigenous communities – the planet’s best protectors, and among the worst affected by the environmental crisis – came to the fore.
If your company isn’t thinking about how to include indigenous insight in your stakeholder engagement processes, now is the time to do so.
The specific: The world’s two biggest carbon emitters made an unexpected joint declaration to work together on cutting emissions.
It’s great news that every government came together and are looking in the right direction, but the real work will be done by those of us who want to live our lives and run our businesses in ways that can support the planet.
Some are a welcome surprise, the Nintendo switch of climate commitments; others are a disheartening pair of socks.