COP26 Was a Flop, but the Climate Justice Movement Is Still Growing
The COP26 summit in Glasgow this month ended with a set of vague and inadequate pledges that won’t tackle the climate crisis. Real hope lies not with corporate-sponsored elite gatherings but with the popular movements linking climate action to social justice.
The COP26 conference held in Scotland this year had the worst conditions for democratic participation in the history of climate negotiations, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, high prices of travel and accommodation in the UK, securitization around the event, and the privileged status of corporate sponsors. There were low expectations that it would reach any successful commitments.
Indeed, the dominant features of COP26 were a discourse favoring market-based and technical solutions, the massive presence of fossil fuel lobbyists, and spectacular announcements from wealthy nations that didn’t live up to the hype. The Glasgow Climate Pact, finalized on November 13, is a package of vague promises that strengthens private-sector interests and lacks sufficient financial commitments from rich countries to support mitigation, loss, and damage in developing countries.
Despite their historical responsibility for climate change, rich countries again didn’t deliver the annual finance goal of $100 billion for climate action in the Global South, leaving more space for private climate finance initiatives. Developed countries and civil society groups, such as the Climate Action Network, have demanded that the North also provide additional funding for climate adaptation and loss and damages separate from finance for climate mitigation to reduce emissions. Some of the world’s poorest regions are already facing floods, droughts, and fires caused by the climate crisis.
However, Glasgow did not deliver targets or a separate facility to compensate for these losses and damages. Leaders increasingly refer to the Paris Agreement of 2015 instead of the founding principles of COP, including the recognition of historical responsibilities on the part of the world’s richest states and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. This year, under the leadership of the British government, finance continues to be yet another neocolonial lending channel.