A Shortcut to Climate Change Conference (COP26)
The world's biggest climate summit kicks off soon, find out why it matters.
Written by Victoria Kent, Senior Investment Specialist
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
This information does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the relevant investment is appropriate having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs.
Source: UK COP26
You may have heard the term COP26, and you'd be forgiven for not knowing what it is.
COP stands for Conference of the Parties, and represents the UN's upcoming annual Climate Change Conference. Glasgow, Scotland will play host to the 26th annual COP on the 31st of October, 2021.
The conference, postponed from last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will run for two weeks and is already the subject of much anticipation.
Who will be there?
In order to understand what will happen there, it’s important to learn about the key players. COP is organised and run by the UNFCCC secretariat, the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change.
The UNFCCC has near universal membership (197 parties) and is the parent of both the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and Paris Agreement (2015).
If you want to make the invitation list at COP26, you will need to satisfy one of these:
representative of Parties to the Convention and Observer States,
member of the press and media, or;
representative of Observer Organisations. This includes Pope Francis (who will attend if his health allows) and US President Joe Biden.
Given that Britain is hosting the event, the British Royal family will also be in attendance. The Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are all reportedly attending. The Queen having to bow out due to medical reasons.
So, it’s likely we can expect press coverage from Woman’s Day.
Why should we care about it?
That's an impressive guest list, sounds important.
According to the Climate Council, this is because global emissions must plummet this decade if we are to avoid "catastrophic climate impacts".
The conference brings key decision makers to the table for two weeks of talks to discuss their climate commitments, and work out ways for coordinating efforts to combat climate change going forward.
Essentially, the ultimate objective of UNFCCC's work is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to a level which will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system, in a time frame which allows ecosystems to adapt naturally and enables sustainable development.
What does this mean in practical terms? When the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, 195 countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
The hope is to do this by 2030, but the clock is ticking, and things aren't looking good with a new study showing that over 85% of the world’s population have already been affected by human induced climate change.
Click here to view a NASA time series interactive visual of global temperature differences between 1884 and 2020. Eeep!
What about Australia?
Oh Scomo, wherefore art thou, Scomo? There has been a fair amount of argybargy on whether or not our PM will be attending COP26; Scott Morrison very recently revealed he will attend the conference in person. It is unclear whether it was public pressure that caused him to change his mind or a plea from Prince Charles to attend the "last chance saloon".
Australia's delegates will act in a negotiating block – a loose coalition of non-EU developed countries which includes Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, and the US.
What are our targets and how do they compare?
Recently Aussie Treasurer Josh Frydenberg made the economic case for net zero emissions by 2050. But that is not the government’s official stance, and many think it’s not good enough. Even more recently, in a down to the wire announcement, the government officially announced “The plan to deliver net zero: The Australian Way”. In it, the government pins their hopes (and $20bn investment) into ‘low-emissions technology’.
Within hours the policy was publicly criticized by global leaders and press headlines.
Aussie tech leader and billionaire Mike Cannon Brooks taking to Twitter calling the policy “ridiculously embarrassing” and “just more bulls**t’.
CNN called Australia’s the rich world’s weakest link. Even Sir David Attenborough was critical of Australia.
Click here to sign a petition asking our government to do more.
Lets compare this to what our strategic allies and trading partners have committed for their emissions targets:
UK: 68% below 1990 levels by 2030
US: 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030
EU: 55% below 1990 levels by 2030
Canada: 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030
If you are a business and aren't reliant on the national plan, you would be in good company. The private sector is in many ways leading the way to reaching net zero by the mid-century.
A recent discussion between the Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA) and the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia (BCSDA) explored how businesses can lead action on climate change ahead of COP26, view it here.
Other topics for discussion at COP26
Aside from emissions reductions targets, which of course encompass mitigation strategies, adaptation will also be a topic for discussion.
Finance to assist developing countries to meet emission targets will also be discussed, as will market mechanisms like carbon credits.
For example, the European Union’s (EU) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism aims to put a price on carbon-heavy imported goods, and pressure on countries that are not taking the same level of climate action.
You can check out the full schedule of events here.
Perhaps the world's hopes for COP26 are best summed up by wildlife conservationist Jane Goodall:
“I hope very much that they will agree to curb their emissions, I hope there will be some agreement about protecting forests and the environment, and I hope that the summit will be followed by action and that it isn’t just mere words.”