15 NOVEMBER 2021 /
GLASGOW PACT /
“What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!”
The slogans raised by thousands of young people in the Glasgow streets demanding climate action echoed on “Youth Day”.
Small children waved their handmade picket signs and adults demanded immediate action loudly with anger and protests.
Latin-American indigenous leaders were also leading the march.
“Indigenous people are dying in the river; they’re being washed away by massive floods. Houses are being washed away, schools full of children inside, bridges, our food, our crops, everything is being washed away,” they said.
Swedish campaigner Greta Thumberg calls the UN Climate Summit – COP 26 in Glasgow a failure.
“It is not a secret that COP 26 is a failure. This is no longer a climate conference. This is now a global green washing festival. A two week long celebration of business as usual and ‘blah, blah, blah,” Greta Thumberg said during the mass protest in the streets of Glasgow demanding quick action from the leaders to address the climate crisis.
In the Conference, 40,000 young people signed a statement and submitted to the COP leaders demanding immediate action on climate change.
As per the UN News the present COP 26 is the biggest and largest COP ever, with nearly 50,000 participants registered in person or to join the events online. Around 120 Heads of States and Government are addressing the Conference along with thousands of participants.
“The six years since the Paris Climate Agreement have been the six hottest years on the record. Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink. We face a stark choice. Either we stop it – or it stops us,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for immediate action and set out key action points before the international community.
“We are digging our own graves,” the UN Chief called for immediate concrete action to reduce global emissions by 45 percent by 2030, a call to the developed nations in the meeting.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a funding package as part of the UK’s Clean Green initiative for sustainable infrastructure and green technology in developing countries.
On 3 November 2021, at least 110 leaders representing 85 percent of Earth’s forests signed the COP26 Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use committing to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, UN COP26 Newsletter report said.
Another major commitment announced was the Methane Pledge, signed by 104 countries including the US and European Union representing 70 percent of the global economy and aims to reduce methane emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030.
Over 40 world leaders from US, China, India, EU and other developing countries signed the new Breakthrough Agenda modeled on the UK’s landmark net zero strategy to deliver clean and affordable technology everywhere by 2030.
Eleven Countries including Ireland, France, Denmark and Costa Rica and others launched a first of its kind alliance, the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) at COP26 to stop all concessions, licensing and leasing and also to set an end date for national oil and gas exploration and extractions.
Many leaders and activists from countries at the front lines of climate change raised their voices in the COP26 at Glasgow.
All the countries including Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Antigua, Barbuda and Costa Rica who are bearing the worst consequences, called for developed countries to deliver the promised 100 billion dollars a year for climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries.
GLASGOW PACT
The last day in Glasgow was very much “tumultuous,” and some countries expressed disappointment and many negotiators held mini celebrations, “posing for pictures while using their hands to draw a ‘1.5’, a goal they fought to keep alive, and which stands for the international effort to try to limit future warming to 1.5 degree Celsius,” reports the UN News from Glasgow.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that the pact was a compromise that reflected “the interests, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today”.
“It is an important step but it is not enough. We must accelerate climate action to keep alive the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. We did not achieve these goals at this Conference. But we have some building blocks for progress.
I know you are disappointed. But the path of progress is not always a straight line. Sometimes there are detours. Sometimes there are ditches. But I know we can get there,” UN Chief said in a video released at the close of the Summit.
A deal was reached in the draft text after making a change to “phase down”, rather than “phase out” coal power.
COP26 concluded in Glasgow with all nations agreeing the Glasgow Pact to keep 1.5 C alive and will accelerate the tempo of Climate action in coming years.
