Vulnerable countries issue urgent calls to action as big emitters drag their heels

(The Energy Mix, 1 Nov 2021) Vulnerable countries’ urgent calls for global climate action collided with disappointing news from a handful of major carbon polluters as delegates gathered over the weekend for this year’s high-stakes UN climate conference, COP 26, in Glasgow.

“It’s a make-or-break time for the world,” wrote veteran climate advocate Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment in Delhi, India. “Science has already spoken about the dire emergency that stares us in the face,” but “we no longer need scientists to tell us this. We can see the devastation in our world—every day there is news about another region that has faced an extreme weather catastrophe. As I write this, my mind is numbed by images from the northern Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand and the southern state of Kerala, where mountains have crashed and lives and homes have been lost.”

Last week, the Globe and Mail reported that leaders from hard-hit African countries were planning a tougher line on negotiations in Glasgow. Gabon is leading the continent’s negotiating team, and Environment Minister Lee White “is readying an arsenal of arguments” about the importance of his country’s forests—as a catalyst for rainfall across much of the continent, and a resource for preventing widespread drought that would in turn trigger a wave of migration out of the region and war within.

“One of the problems we have in the climate negotiations is the skepticism among African countries and others because of a whole series of promises that haven’t been honoured,” White said. “The biggest problem in the negotiations is the lack of confidence between the developed and developing nations.”

External link

The Energy Mix, 1 Nov 2021: Vulnerable countries issue urgent calls to action as big emitters drag their heels

More Related News

Cop26

21 Dec 2021: How the Glasgow Dialogue can deliver finance for victims of the climate crisis

20 Dec 2021: Three ways the Glasgow joint declaration can accelerate US–China climate cooperation

13 Dec 2021: Who will be the judge of countries’ climate plans?

3 Dec 2021: Green business after COP26

2 Dec 2021: UK must ‘walk the talk’ on climate action, say official advisers

2 Dec 2021: Renewable energy has ‘another record year of growth’ says IEA

23 Nov 2021: The street and the boardroom are closer than they have ever been on climate

22 Nov 2021: The ocean is essential to tackling climate change. So why has it been neglected in global climate talks?

22 Nov 2021: Nigeria commits to annual carbon budgets to reach net zero under climate law

18 Nov 2021: ANALYSIS-Coal power stand at COP26 climate talks lends India time to transition

18 Nov 2021: Climate-vulnerable nations call for help forcing high emitters to act