How can a global climate response succeed if it can be stymied by a lone coal millionaire who lives on a yacht and drives a silver Maserati?
As the committee work was drawing to a close for the weekend at the Glasgow SEC last Friday, one committee lingered after dark (which is not all that late in this part of Scotland at this time of year) to get some basic language worked out for the “cover decision” for the final text. The cover decision is the strapline P.R. message that will signal success of the 2021 COP to the world at large.
The first week had already given them a lot to work with — nearly all they needed. The newly revised Nationally Determined Goals (NDCs) succeeded in bringing collective pledges down to slightly below the two-degree Paris target before the end of the century and further adjustments in future COPs are expected to lower the temperature further.[1] The $600 billion in aid now pledged will assist underdeveloping countries to make the switch away from fossils (mitigation) and relocate endangered populations away from sinking coastlines, increase food and water security, and provide for anticipated health impacts (adaptation). The happy coincidence of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2021 brought nature into Climate COP26 in a more powerful way. There is observably greater emphasis on nature-based solutions and indigenous wisdom, the new terms for which are “50G” and “5D.” Still-to-be determined in the coming week will be putting a price on carbon and setting phase-out dates for coal.
Joe Biden flew to Glasgow hoping to slap his trillion-dollar infrastructure bill on the table so people would believe him when he said, in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger accent, “We’re back.” Those were just the table stakes to get back in the game. Regrettably, he came empty-handed. He’d had to promise Maserati Joe Manchin to take coal mines and climate dollars out of the bill. Biden showed up with his tail between his legs, bearing less than was being pledged even by China or India, and that is really saying something. When 50 countries agreed to phase out coal by 2030, the US took a pass, joining with Russia in snubbing the deal. It might anger Manchin.
A snag in the committee’s work that kept them up late was obstructionism, specifically…
