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IMAGE OF THE DAY
Members of Scientist Rebellion, including Kyle Topfer (second from the left) and Charlie Gardner (far right), chained together on Glasgow’s King George V Bridge.Credit: Mar Sala/Scientist Rebellion
Members of the activist group Scientist Rebellion chained themselves to a Glasgow bridge, sailed a dinghy down the River Clyde and glued themselves to a giant research paper outside the offices of a power company during COP26. (Nature | 5 min read)
BREAKING NEWS
COP26 final agreement reached
The leaders of almost 200 countries have reached a consensus at COP26. The name of the final deal is the Glasgow Climate Pact. For some, it is a breakthrough, albeit an imperfect one. “We all know that old adage, you can't let perfect be the enemy of the good,” said US climate envoy John Kerry earlier today. For others, the agreement is woefully inadequate.
Key phrases to look out for include “accelerating efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”. These are the first explicit mentions of coal and fossil fuels in a UN climate agreement. But the words ‘unabated’ and ‘inefficient’ are a controversial nod to those countries whose economies currently rely on those resources — or who feel they are essential to move their people out of poverty.
Several countries spoke out against the last-second change, spearheaded by India, to change the phrase “phase-out” to “phase-down”. The swap removes “one of the bright spots” of the agreement, said Marshall Islands representative Tina Stege. Nevertheless, they accepted the alteration in a bid to finalize the process.
“We all know that European wealth was built on coal. And if we don't get rid of coal, European death will also be built on coal,” said Frans Timmermans, vice president of the European Commission. “Having said all that… this should not stop us from deciding today on what… is a historic, historic decision.”
Crucially, countries promised to “revisit and strengthen” their 2020 climate goals by the end of 2022. They also expressed “deep regret” in the document about rich nations’ broken promise to give US$100 billion each year by 2020 to help less-wealthy regions adapt to climate change and mitigate further rises in temperature, and agreed to work out a new global adaptation goal in future talks.
COP26 President Alok Sharma was visibly emotional, and met with a standing ovation from delegates, as he brought down the gavel on this contentious and hard-fought agreement.
“This is the moment of truth for our planet, our children and our grandchildren,” said Sharma earlier today.
The outcome is “an important step, but it's not enough”, wrote António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. “It's time to go into emergency mode. The climate battle is the fight of our lives and that fight must be won.”
New Scientist | 5 min read & Sky News | 5 min read
Reference: Glasgow Climate Pact (helpfully annotated by The Washington Post)
VIDEO
Nature reporters reflect on COP26
In the final hours of COP26, I joined fellow Nature journalists Ehsan Masood and Quirin Schiermeier to discuss scientists’ reactions to the conference and the language to look out for in the final outcome.
