COP26 and beyond - welcome to the blog
Young people have shown, with the school strike for climate movement and with the street protests of Extinction Rebellion, that they are not willing to accept that current policy on climate change is “the best we can do”. It is not, and it cannot be, because “business as usual” is already taking us into uncharted territory.
In 2013, CO2 levels in the world’s atmosphere exceeded 400 parts per million (‘ppm’) for the first time in human history, and those levels are still rising. That makes current policy a big experiment, with humanity as its subject. Many young people realise this and they want something done about it, and before the COVID-19 pandemic they were highly active in demanding change. With this blog – written by an environmental lawyer, an educator and an engineer - we want to find and explain new ideas and new approaches to support that activity.
The ‘Keeling Curve’ showing increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere, as continuously monitored in Hawai since 1958. Image courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography
What will this blog cover?
Climate Science
We think this is critically important – as Greta Thunberg has said “Don’t listen to me, listen to the scientists”. Climate science has been key to identifying the nature and scale of all aspects of climate change, and the issue cannot be effectively addressed without it. We want to ensure that climate action is constantly reinforced and strengthened by links and access to the best available climate science, so we will explain the basics of how our climate works and how it is changing, and then refer you to the real experts. This is even more important at a time when science based policy and objective truth and facts are under direct attack from some governments.
Energy & Emissions
We will explain where our emissions come from, and look at some practical ways that emissions can be reduced, and explain how we could reach Net Zero emissions. We will also share interesting new ways that young people can get involved and become informed about emissions reduction technologies and policies, such as the 2050 Calculator.
Politics & Negotiations
We want to try and de-mystify and explain what is actually happening at COP26, who is involved, and what the themes of the negotiations will be, to enable wider participation in the preparation and more scope to influence the outcomes. We aim to reduce the key provisions of the Paris Agreement to a three page table in layman’s language, and to keep simplifying and explaining key terms used at COP26.
We also believe that climate change is closely linked to biodiversity loss and both are linked to the impacts on the oceans. As well as COP26 of the UNFCCC/Paris Agreement in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021, and the Youth COP to be held by Co-hosts Italy, there will be a critically important meeting of COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China in May 2021. Next year will also see key review meetings of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. We need those Conventions to be working together and supporting each other, and our blogs will give ideas on how to make that happen.
Green Recovery
In 2020, the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and people and countries around the world have experienced appalling loss of life and suffering, and huge economic damage through lockdowns, and loss of jobs, trade and business. Governments around the world are in the process of responding to the economic fallout by huge, multi-million dollar ‘recovery’ packages. The way in which that money is spent will set the course for many countries for the foreseeable future, and lock in decisions affecting climate change, for good or bad. That is why many international bodies, governments, businesses, academics and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are calling the year 2020 a turning point, and making calls to “build back better” with a Green Recovery . Our blogs will aim to show what that means and why it urgently matters now.
Using the law to fix the climate
Law is just the expression of the point that society has reached on a particular topic. It is not just for lawyers. We will be looking at some of the ways that you can influence decisions on climate change through using the law, whether it is getting involved with making your voice heard in Parliament as it considers new laws on Net Zero, through some of the ground-breaking cases being brought on climate change from around the world.
Finance & Business
Had you thought of that as a way to bring about action on climate change? Our blogs will tell some of the stories of really major changes being achieved, as hundreds of companies sign up to Net Zero commitments, along with cities, regional governments and universities. We will aim to find out and explain what Mark Carney’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure is doing, and why it makes a difference.
Education & Opportunities
There are some really exciting changes going on in the field of climate change education. We will try and report on those, and also be looking out for the key trends and big opportunities opening up. We all know about the problems, the economic effects of COVID-19 and the job losses, and the impacts that climate change is already having worldwide. We also need to remember the new professions, new jobs and new opportunities that will be opening up as countries make the transition to Net Zero emissions economies.
Image courtesy of Callum Shaw via Unsplash
In 2020, countries that signed up to the Paris Agreement are committed to bring forward revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), setting out for each country what steps they are prepared to take to reduce emissions as promised in the Paris Agreement. COP26 is about many other things, but that is the heart of it. It is likely to be a long and difficult negotiation process.
In a recent webinar to ASEAN countries Prof. Dr Joy Jacqueline Pereira, Vice Chair of an IPCC Working Group commented that the difference between global warming 1.5°C and 2.0°C was several hundred million fewer people subject to climate-related risk and poverty. It may also be the difference between the survival of some, and the loss of 99% of all , coral reefs.
As Dr Pereira said -
Every bit of warming matters
Every year matters
Every choice matters
So there is a lot to do.
In each blog we will try to de-mystify the topics, and to suggest practical ways in which committed young climate activists can make a real difference. The bigger the problem, the more we need your brains and your energies to join the fight to address it. We need you to help to make a difference: before COP26, to influence the commitment shown by your government at COP26, and in your community after COP26.