COP26, which kicks off today in Glasgow, is shaping up to be the most important climate summit for the future of the planet since the 2015 meeting, in which the Paris Agreement was adopted

Glasgow could be the last chance to take action to limit the devastating effects of climate change. Effects that are occurring more and more frequently in the form of heat waves, fires and floods. The latest report of Group I of the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report[1], adopted in August, unequivocally confirms the human influence on global warming and finds that some of the effects of climate change are already irreversible and unprecedented in centuries or millennia.

Added to these aspects are the effects of COVID-19, which has highlighted the great global vulnerability to possible future pandemics, in which climate change plays a key role. COP26 emerges as an opportunity for the international community to accelerate its cooperation for the green and zero-emission transition, to achieve the goals and objectives of the Paris Agreement and to send the message to the world that we are capable of reacting to urgent global challenges, such as climate change.

THE GLASGOW AGENDA

COP26 is scheduled to run until November 12. After the formal opening of the sessions on Sunday, the British government has organised a World Leaders Summit, which will take place between 1 and 2 November, with the aim of promoting, at the highest level, the success of the summit and at which there could be important announcements on climate finance or ambition. As was the case at COP25 held in Madrid, the agenda is open to ministers from areas such as the economy, energy and agriculture, with meetings and events taking place between 3 and 6 November. During the second week, the high-level segment will be held in which the ministers responsible for climate will participate and in which the formal decisions of the summit will be adopted.

The Global Climate Action Agenda (GCAA) will have a major boost in Glasgow. After accelerating in the last year and a half the commitments and concrete multisectoral actions of non-state actors, it is expected that this meeting will crystallise the change in climate governance that began in Madrid and by which the formal negotiation is open to the participation of all actors, beyond governments. The role of these actors is essential to achieve the 0 emissions goal on the road to a decarbonised world. The Glasgow meeting will take stock of the progress of the Action Agenda and, between 3 and 11 November, different events will be held during sectoral thematic days that will deal with areas such as finance, energy, water, oceans and coastal areas, land use, resilience, industry, transport and cities and regions. The aim is to show society’s momentum in action against climate change.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM COP26

There are many hopes placed in this summit from which firm commitments are expected to ensure an ambitious, just and equitable response to climate change.  

Glasgow is expected to give a definitive boost to specific issues that can no longer be postponed in light of the urgency of the climate situation, including meeting the $100 billion target reached in Paris to meet the climate change needs of developing countries. According to the OECD, in 2019, there was still a gap of 20,000 million dollars to achieve this goal, which is set as the great test of credibility on the commitment of developed countries to a global cause. Progress must also be made in balancing climate finance, until a 50/50 distribution of resources for mitigation and adaptation is reached, an issue that is particularly important in the case of developing countries, the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. But, above all, COP26 demands an urgent increase in ambition in all areas. Ambition and concrete actions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, not to lose the global warming target of 1.5 degrees, define the emissions accounting system and move forward decisively in the current decade to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement.