It is interesting to note that today, in the middle of COP26 in Glasgow (Oct 31-Nov 12), the World is observing the international Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. More than 30,000 people are expected to attend COP26. Leaders will revisit the promises they made in the 2015 Paris Agreement and, hopefully, increase their ambitions.
The UK outlined four key goals for COP 26: Secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5C within reach, Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats, Mobilise finance, and Work together to deliver. We are all holding our breaths to see which countries will pledge to reach net zero by 2050. Note those that have said they will do so by 2060.
Pope Francis has warned global leaders that time is running out to address climate change. He urged them on 29 Oct to “take radical decisions” that would “provide effective responses to the present ecological crisis.”
In relation to today’s UN Day, note that “...the environment has often remained the unpublicised victim of war. Water wells have been polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed to gain military advantage... the United Nations Environment Programme has found that over the last 60 years, at least 40 percent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources, whether high-value resources such as timber, diamonds, gold and oil, or scarce resources such as fertile land and water. Conflicts involving natural resources have also been found to be twice as likely to relapse.” It is true that “action on the environment is part of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peace building strategies, because there can be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed”.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, called the recent IPCC report on the climate crisis a “code red” for humanity. “We are at the verge of the abyss,” he said. Note that the world has failed to keep warming to 1.5C in the past five years. Who, I ask, will “bell the cat?”
There are some who believe that the ‘conference of parties’ (COP26) will be just that - a party to which most will have flown in on their fuel guzzling private jets. As Hannah Ritchie says in Our World in Data: “Aviation accounts for around 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, but it’s overall contribution to climate change is higher. This is because air travel does not only emit CO2: it affects the climate in a number of more complex ways.
“As well as emitting CO2 from burning fuel, planes affect the concentration of other gases and pollutants in the atmosphere...carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide – non-CO2 forcings from aviation are not included in the Paris Agreement...Non-CO2 climate impacts mean aviation accounts for 3.5% of global warming...We don’t yet have the technologies to decarbonise air travel.”
But wait! Help is on its way. As reported in the UK Times, “World leaders will have their private jets filled with sustainable aircraft fuel when they leave the Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow. Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, wants the UK to become a leader in sustainable aviation and pioneer ‘guilt-free travel’. He will use the summit... to showcase the new green fuel, which can be created from household waste, sewage and recycled cooking oils. More than 150 world leaders will fly home with the eco-fuel.”
Karl Mathiesen’s and Zack Colman’s recent article in Politico is not optimistic. They state that “efforts to stop warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius may already have slipped away...No nation wants to admit it is consigning small island states or drought-prone lands to disaster.” In fact, as we know, every country will suffer if the world’s leaders don’t stop playing the blame game and do as Finland’s Environment and Climate Change Minister says: “Everyone must bear their share of the responsibility.”
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish activist says: “As Jim Skea, a leading IPCC scientist, put it: ‘Limiting warming to 1.5C is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics, but doing so would require unprecedented changes’ ...we can still turn this around. It’s entirely possible if we are prepared to change. For the Cop26 in Glasgow to be a success it will take many things. But above all it will take honesty, solidarity and courage...The clock is ticking. Summits keep happening. Emissions keep growing. Who will that leader be?”