The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is being held in Glasgow (United Kingdom), ended today with a decision to reduce the use of coal and end fossil fuel subsidies. Likewise, the text adopted by the 196 countries that are part of the Convention keeps alive the commitment to ensure that the planet’s temperature does not increase by more than 1.5º.
For the Vice-President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, it is “a good agreement that lays the foundations for the new stage until 2030”. Ribera explained that it is “a significant step forward that confirms the courageous commitment to achieve emissions reductions compatible with the IPCC scenarios and keep the 1.5ºC goal alive, and takes steps to start definitively banishing coal and ending fossil fuel subsidies. An agreement in which the importance of increasingly complex and essential work is finally assumed, such as investing in adaptation in all countries and having agile and rapid mechanisms to respond to major climate disasters in which adaptation is not possible”.
The final decision includes the goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally by 45% by 2030 (over 2010) and the urgency of accelerating climate ambition in this decade, following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
In this regard, and recognising that there is a gap in national emission reduction commitments, a work programme is being launched to make the 1.5ºC target viable by establishing annual ambition reviews compared to the five-year cycle of ambition set out in the Paris Agreement. With the aim of keeping the pressure on ambition at the highest level, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will host a leaders’ event in 2022 to discuss climate ambition.
Likewise, in Glasgow, for the first time, specific sectoral actions have been established for this decade in order to significantly reduce the use of coal and end fossil fuel subsidies, and the link with biodiversity and the oceans has been strengthened, agendas with clear synergies and shared benefits on which work will continue.
BOOSTING THE ADAPTATION AGENDA
In terms of adaptation, it receives the support it needed in a context in which natural disasters due to climate change are on the rise. Vice-President Ribera has been chosen as facilitator of the negotiation in this area, which from now on leaves its secondary role with respect to mitigation and seeks indicators and methodologies to measure its progress, establishing a technical work programme to help, evaluate and measure more action on adaptation. This responds to the demand of developing countries with a greater realization of the adaptation goal that was established in Paris.
In addition, the need for more adaptation funding to balance mitigation finance has been recognized. In this regard, the Glasgow decision calls on developed countries to double their adaptation financing by 2025 compared to 2019.
LOSS AND DAMAGE
Closely related to adaptation, how to address the loss and damage caused by the impacts of climate change, especially in the most vulnerable countries, has entered the list of priorities of this meeting in Glasgow. It has been agreed to provide funds to the so-called Santiago Network, which was established at COP25 in Madrid as a space to work on this agenda and encourage a real mobilization of resources to respond to emergencies in the most vulnerable countries.
FINANCING
Undoubtedly, one of the issues that have been the focus of the discussion at the Glasgow Summit has been financing. Once the gap in climate finance has been recognised and a plan has been presented to meet the contribution agreed in Paris of 100,000 million dollars per year by 2023 at the latest, the big change is the opening of the financial discussion beyond the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Thus, beyond public budgets, there is talk of a new financial architecture and the role of the different instruments and institutions in responding to the need to mobilise more financing. And most importantly: the growing needs of the most vulnerable countries are recognized and there is a special call to include climate vulnerability as a clear indicator for the mobilization of concessional resources, with special mention of Special Drawing Rights.
In this new adaptation economy, there is a specific call to multilateral banks, financial institutions and the private sector to increase their financing for the implementation of climate plans with a special focus on adaptation. In particular, the role of the Multilateral Development Banks and the financial sector is recognized, which must align their strategies and products with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
It was also agreed to start discussing the new financial target from 2025.
RULES FOR CARBON MARKETS
After years of discussion, the rules for the implementation of the carbon markets established in Paris have been finalized in Glasgow. Despite the European Union’s efforts to prevent this, the door is open to introducing market units of the Kyoto Protocol into the Paris system, which has a potential negative effect on ambition. For this reason, the European Union has agreed not to use this type of unit and hopes that other countries, allies in climate ambition, will do the same.
On the other hand, progress has been made in guaranteeing the environmental integrity of the markets, since it is possible to adjust all emissions for compliance, both for countries and for other systems such as CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation). In this way, every tonne placed on the market is clearly supported by a rigorous system that prevents anyone from counting reductions twice, which is essential for accountability.
Likewise, a new rule is introduced that requires that 2% of the reductions generated in the projects cannot be used to meet the emission reduction commitments, which reinforces the environmental integrity of these projects.
In addition, it responds to one of the demands of developing countries that are asking for more financing for adaptation. Thus, it has been agreed that a rate of 5% of the emissions generated in the projects will go to the Adaptation Fund. In this way, the predictability of financial flows for adaptation is ensured.
CROSS-CUTTING CLIMATE AGENDA
The Glasgow Summit has also put the spotlight on climate justice, underlining the important role played by non-governmental stakeholders, including civil society, indigenous peoples and local communities, youth and children and other actors.
In this sense, Glasgow takes a step further on the change of approach that began at COP25 in Madrid, amplifying action beyond governments with a clear recognition of the role of civil society. This shift in focus is made visible by the breakthrough of the Race to Zero initiative, which brings together non-state actors from around the world to halve global emissions by 2030, has commitments covering 25% of global CO2 emissions and more than 50% of GDP.
Its sister initiative, Race to Resilience, which aims to catalyse a change of scale in global ambition and action for climate resilience, now has 33 partners, representing more than 2,500 organisations operating in more than 100 countries.
Other important initiatives in Glasgow have been the launch of the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), which brings together the full breadth of the global financial system with more than $130 trillion of private capital committed to transforming the economy to net-zero emissions.
COMMITMENTS OF SPAIN
Spain is aligned with the European Union’s commitment to reduce its emissions by 55% by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. And we are taking decisive steps to align our investments, both public and private, with the goal of climate neutrality. In this regard, 30,000 million euros from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan will be allocated over the next three years to the ecological transition.
At the Leaders’ Summit that kicked off this conference in Glasgow, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced Spain’s commitment to increase climate finance by 2025 with a 50% increase compared to our current commitment. The goal is to reach 1,350 million euros per year from 2025. In addition, Spain will contribute €30 million to the UN Adaptation Fund in 2022, and will allocate 20% of our special drawing rights to vulnerable countries, with a minimum of €350 million.
