COP 26: Week 1 round up

As we enter Week 2 of COP 26 we thought it would be useful to take a look at the goals of COP26 and what has been achieved so far.

COP 26 has four primary goals of climate mitigation, adaptation, finance and collaboration, summarised as follows:

1. Secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach

Countries were to be asked to propose ambitious 2030 emissions reductions targets that align with reaching net zero by the middle of the century.

To deliver on these stretching targets, countries would be ask to:

• accelerate the phase-out of coal
• curtail deforestation
• speed up the switch to electric vehicles
• encourage investment in renewables.

2. Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats

COP26 aims to promote working together to enable and encourage countries affected by climate change to:

• protect and restore ecosystems
• build defences, warning systems and resilient infrastructure and agriculture to avoid loss of homes, livelihoods and even lives

3. Mobilise finance

To deliver on the first two goals it was hoped that developed countries would commit to mobilising at least $100bn in climate finance per year and that international financial institutions would work towards releasing trillions of private and public sector finance to secure global net zero.

4. Work together to deliver

COP26 sought to obtain agreements to:

• finalise the Paris Rulebook
• accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis through collaboration between governments, businesses and civil society.

What has been achieved so far?

Many countries set out their plans to reduce emissions before the summit started, however, there have been over 20 new agreements on a range of issues in week 1. Highlights included:

• Global Methane Pledge
• Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero: a global coalition of over 450 of world’s leading financial institutions committed over $130 trillion dollars (c.40% of global private assets) to transforming the economy to net zero over the next three decades
• Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement:  to accelerate a transition away from unabated coal power generation by 2030.
• Multi Development Bank joint statements on Climate and Nature
• Joint Statement in Support of the Uk-Iea Product Efficiency Call to Action to Raise Global Ambition Through the Sead Initiative
• Cop26 World Leaders Statement on the Breakthrough Agenda: a commitment to work together to accelerate the development and deployment of the clean technologies and sustainable solutions needed to meet our Paris agreement goals.
• Joint Statement on Forests, Agriculture and Commodity Trade: setting a roadmap for action and a shared path forward
• The Global Forest Finance Pledge: financing the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of forests by providing $12 billion for forest-related climate finance between 2021-2025.

The overall trajectory is good with a large number of signatories and some significant agreements. However, several key players and emitters have not signed some of the key agreements.

Full details of each agreement and the signatories is available on the COP26 web page.