COP26 summit: Final countdown begins as delegations decide on course of action amid protests!

NEW DELHI: It's the final week of COP26. A big protest march on Saturday the 6th of November brought the city to a grinding halt. The city was in lockdown mode.

The cause wasn't the pandemic but to facilitate the movement of over 50,000 protestors who were going to March to the city square to put pressure on the COP26 delegates to do more on climate action.

A hallmark of this COP has been the sheer number of young protestors, including speeches by Greta Thunberg, who has become the poster child of the climate movement. The protestors are demanding more action from world leaders to limit the earth's temperature to 1.5 degrees centigrade, one of the targets also set by the COP presidency to call the summit a success.

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The targets agreed at Paris will only ensure limiting the world's temperature to 2 degrees and scientists claim that unless emissions are drastically cut we are well on our way to a warming world above 2.7 degrees centigrade. This could wreak havoc on the planet, especially in the more vulnerable countries with people who live close to the coastline.

Climate activists take part in a protest through the streets of London on Nov 6, 2021 | AP

The protest march ended peacefully except for 21 scientists who had chained themselves to a bridge in the city centre and were arrested.

Dr Charlie Gardner, from the Durell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, said to this reporter- "Today I was one of the 21 scientists arrested for blocking a bridge with a group called the Scientist Rebellion. We believe it was the first-ever mass arrest of scientists over climate change."

Protestors have been urging world leaders to listen to science rather than indulge in semantics on the floor of the COP26 venue.

In spite of a large number of protests, the dichotomy inside and outside the venue remains. With each country steadfastly holding on to their positions, progress has been slow.

The developing world, already reeling from the financial crisis steered by the pandemic, is asking for money to be put on the table.

Climate activists march through the streets of Glasgow on Nov 5, 2021 | AP

One of the key components of this COP has been the discussion around Article 6 - which envisages voluntary bilateral agreements between countries, in the form of development aid.

So, for instance, rich countries could meet their individual pledges to reduce emissions by providing developing countries with the necessary financial support to meet their respective pledges. This would result in the exchange of credits.

However, there is concern that badly designed rules without adequate monitoring systems in place could result in a greenwash. As Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav had said in a previous interview to India Today, "We can't commit a sin in one place and pay the price for it in another place."

Some good news did come in on Saturday evening with the EU, US and UK committing multilateral aid to South Africa to help it phase out coal. "This is the kind of positive action we need from the developed world in order for countries to end the use of fossil fuel. We welcome this assistance provided to South Africa," adds Harjeet Singh, Senior Advisor, CAN International, in an interview to India Today.

An analysis of the participants who have made it to COP26 throws up some interesting results. "Almost 40,000 delegates registered for the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate summit, the provisional list shows, suggesting that the Glasgow event is the biggest COP to date," reports the Carbon Brief.

Several nations have no registered delegates - one of these is in Afghanistan, which is, of course, no surprise given the recent turmoil in the country. There continues to be a major gender imbalance between the numbers of participants at the COPs over the years, although it has improved this year.

Based on analysis of the UNFCCC forms, Carbon Brief reports that 'at COP26 this shift has tilted the other way, with an average balance of 65 per cent male to 35 per cent female.

But attendance aside, as COP26 gears up for its final week in Glasgow, the vast schisms that persist between the rich and poor countries have hindered progress. Last week, an announcement was made by over 40 countries to phase out coal in a boost to UK hopes of a deal to "keep 1.5C alive". But this doesn't include countries like India that still rely heavily on coal.

The second and final week of the COP26 will be crucial as the heads of delegations decide on a final text and course of action. The COP26 President, Alok Sharma, has made it clear that he intends to finish the conference on time (unlike Paris where deliberations continued way past the deadline).

Prime Minister Modi
, who was here earlier in the week, announced ambitious climate goals for India that have already been praised for being bold in their commitment. And yet it is his announcement of India only reaching net-zero emissions till 2070 that has caught the attention of the international community.

There was considerable pressure on India to announce a net-zero target at a much earlier date. India has maintained that no money has been put on the table and it needs help with finance in order to pursue a low carbon pathway.

With environment minister Bhupender Yadav expected to land back in Glasgow for the final round of talks, the drums are rolling and the voice of the protestors outside the venue is only getting louder.

The big question remains. Can the world set aside its differences and commit to keeping the temperatures below 1.5 degrees centigrade? We will know four days from now.

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