COP26 begins a second stage without world leaders

After the meetings of the main world leaders in the first days, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change of 2021 (COP26) moved to another stage in which representatives of lower levels, such as ministers or secretaries, follow the negotiations of what announced in the previous days.

The European Union (EU) yesterday urged the participants of the COP26 climate summit to show greater ambition in cutting emissions during this decade to limit global warming, and anticipated that “much more will have to be done after Glasgow ”In that area, according to EFE.

The chief negotiator of the European Commission (EC) at the summit, Jacob Werksman, said at a press conference that the additional commitments announced during the first days of the climate meeting will not “significantly” modify the forecasts made so far. looking forward to 2030.

“The COP targets put us on a trajectory in the direction of 2.7 degrees Celsius increase in temperature, a far cry from 1.5 degrees,” Werksman said.

“The announcements that have been made here are being analyzed, but we understand, from what many say think tank, that the additional national contributions for 2030 will not significantly move the needle away from 2.7 degrees, “he detailed.

For the EU negotiator, “clearly much more will need to be done after Glasgow in terms of maintaining political pressure and making sure that countries try to be more ambitious in cutting emissions”.

Nelson Baldeón, consultant in energy geopolitics, comments that on Tuesday the presidents already left and the responsibility remained until Friday or Saturday in the hands of ministers, especially of energy and environment, from different countries that continue to close agreements, create alliances or increase the network of contacts. In addition, people can visit the stands of the countries to see their projects or policies to reduce environmental impact.

“The final declaration has not yet been defined, which is the important one to know what are the commitments that they have to fulfill,” says Baldeón, who adds that this would be known at the end of the appointment (November 12) or in the middle of the other week.

The increase in the protection of forests, decarbonization, reduction of greenhouse gases, stop financing the oil industry, investment in science and technology in 100 trillion dollars, taking into account that to decarbonize the world economy 11 trillion dollars are needed, it is little, but at least a beginning. This, according to Baldeón and other experts, is what can be highlighted so far, but they are still beautiful messages that need to be seen from a pragmatic point of view to actually see what can be implemented.

For Frances Colón, Senior Director of International Climate Policy at the Center for American Progress, the first days to reduce methane emissions and restore ecosystems, for example, are great advances because more than 105 countries have signed up. But it is still not enough.

“Many countries have announced big new targets, but not all the big emitters. So there is still a week of negotiations, goals to be announced, agreements to be reached, and the countries are going to have to add and subtract to know where they are now with the commitments that have been made and the objectives that have been set. .. to see if the sum of that allows us to reach the goal by 2050 of remaining with only a 1.5 degree increase in global warming. There are many who say that it does not seem that we can get there without those that are still missing, such as China and Russia, and there will have to be very serious conversations in the coming days, “says Colón, who adds that now we must talk about measures of implementation and how to verify them.

Meanwhile, according to Belén Páez, from the Cuencas Sagradas Initiative, in the case of regions with forest, such as Ecuador, it is necessary to commit to meeting deforestation goals, and in that sense there are conversations in the issue of climate financing, adaptation, mitigation, damages and losses, of systems of the subsidiary bodies that are going to reach these agreements, but they are not going to be achieved quickly enough, because there are many interests involved in the issue of global finance. Although he sees an interest in building an inclusive capitalism.

“Scientists say that these issues of points of no return, both in the oceans and in the forests, are supercompromising, and that we should not ignore the warnings of nature and take measures to alleviate these situations. Within the conversations this year, the issue of the oceans is being left out and they are concentrating more on forests … The scientific community calls for greater ambition when it comes to addressing the issue of temperature change in the oceans ” says Páez.

Verónica Inmunda, leader of Juventudes de Confeniae, also expresses that Cuencas Sagradas dictates a framework for the indigenous people to participate in everything that concerns the protection of their area and to promote that the forest remains intact.

Eduardo Pichilingue, also part of this initiative of indigenous people from Ecuador and Peru, affirms that attention should be paid to how any financing is going to be used, so that it does not end up being something cumbersome and bureaucratic that reduces what will reach the main beneficiaries , which would be the populations. But above all, he hopes that progress does not remain only on paper, as in previous COPs. (I)