With the dust now settled on COP26, it is time to reflect on the climate conference’s key pledges and outcomes for businesses and what these mean for Charter members.
Despite the hammering COP26 has received from green groups, a lot of positive deals were agreed, even if the best the conference can be described as is mixed. We’ll start with the more positive stories to emerge before commenting on the negatives and the conference’s overall success.
Annual Global Checkpoint Process
Starting at COP27, Egypt – 2022, leaders have agreed to establish the Global Checkpoint Process – an annual cycle of tracking and reviewing global progress in the transition to sustainability, finishing with new and enhanced commitments from existing and participating countries for enhanced ambition and action.
This agreement showcases the immense importance on a national level of not just taking action but reporting on it too, having an environmental policy, an action plan, keeping to it and adding to it. Something that Charter Members should also be aware of.
UK Support for the SEAD Initiative
The Super-Efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) Initiative’s key goal is to help governments raise the efficiency of high energy consuming products sold globally more quickly, more easily and at a lower cost. The UK’s and other countries’ support of this demonstrates the growing recognition that improving product efficiency is critically important to the planet.
For businesses operating in countries participating in the SEAD Initiative it can be expected that governments will adopt policies and strategies looking to advance the energy efficiency of high energy equipment and appliances. The aim of these policies would be to ease the transition from older, less efficient equipment and to help finance the purchase of these more efficient alternatives.
Zero Emission Vehicles Transition
With road transport accounting for over 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it is vital to lower the emissions associated with it. In the UK the ban on the sale of all new internal combustion engines by 2030 is well publicised. The announcements made at COP26 state a more global ambition to ban the sale of all cars and vans powered by an internal combustion engine by 2035 in leading markets and 2040 worldwide. Some nations have also committed to end the sale of heavy-duty vehicles powered by internal combustion engines by 2040 also.
A more global stance on the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans will enhance the need for car manufacturers to continue investment into bettering and widening their electric range of vehicles. This could lead to better electric vehicles becoming available quicker and cheaper.
Declaration on Forests and Land Use
The declaration on Forests and Land Use commits to working collaboratively to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation. Some of the key points emerging from the declaration include: the commitment to conserve forests and other terrestrial ecosystems halting and reversing deforestation by 2030 – signatories of the declaration represent some 90% of global forests, facilitating and promoting sustainable development and commodity production, the increased development and adoption of profitable, sustainable agriculture and to significantly increasing the finance and investment to enable sustainable agriculture, forest management and restoration.
This should mean the increased availability and promotion from the UK government for sustainable agricultural practices and equipment. As well as this, it should increase the protection offered to the green spaces and other natural environments around the UK.
The Declaration on Forests and Land Use has so far been signed by 141 countries, covering 90.94% (3,691,510,640 hectares) of the world’s forests (picture from verdict.co.uk).
Watering-Down of Fossil Fuel Language
However, the big media story that emerged from COP26’s final day was the watering down of the language used on fossil fuels in the Glasgow Climate Pact. The change from: “phase-out of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” to “phasedown of unabated coal power and phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” represented a big loss for Alok Sharma, COP26 president, and for the summit in general.
It is also widely agreed that although there were positive steps made at the conference towards the 1.5°C target, these steps are currently not enough. UN secretary General Antonio Gutteres said:
“It is an important step but is not enough. We must accelerate climate action to keep alive the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.”
Prior to the conference scientists had projected that the policies adopted would lead to roughly 3.2°C of global warming, far higher than either target. After the conference, projections had reduced the estimated level of warming to 2.4°C if countries hold these policies and meet all of their Nationally Determined Contributions up until 2030. Although, governments keeping to their environmental commitments is not something to bank on and despite being closer we are still not on track to meet our target.
More action is needed.
Harry Grosvenor – Carbon Charter Assistant, Groundwork East.
