We know the problem. We must shift to a sustainable world economy and stop destabilising our planetary ecosystems. If we succeed, we usher in a greener, healthier and wealthier future. If we don’t: catastrophe.
We have agreed to act. Under the Paris agreement of 2015, virtually all countries agreed on the scale and urgency of the problem, and committed to take the necessary steps to solve it.
However, the commitments under the Paris agreement fall well short of what is needed, and would lead to warming of well over 3C: probably the end of civilisation as we know it.
So at COP26 in Glasgow this November, the largest ever gathering of world leaders on British soil, we must ratchet up the Paris commitments and “keep 1.5C alive.” In other words, the world’s nations must revise their pollution targets across energy, industry, transport and food systems to limit the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels (we are already at 1.2C).
In the long term, cleaning up the world economy makes sense on all counts: for prosperity, security and environment. But getting there requires millions of shifts across communities and corporations globally, and at a scale and urgency that can only be achieved if world leaders send a strong enough collective signal to decisively shift world opinion, investment flows and behaviour.
We have made significant progress in the months leading up to COP26. Since the UK became the first major industrial economy to pass “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions legislation in 2019, we have received net zero emissions pledges from an astonishing 80 per cent of the world economy. Critically, that needs to be matched in the near term by government pledges to roughly halve emissions by 2030 (they are currently on track to go up). Done wisely, these cleaner energy, transport, infrastructure and food system shifts reduce the cost of living and increase health and wellbeing for all.
Beyond reducing emissions, countries must also adapt to the climate change that is already locked in, and build resilience to future environmental shocks. A key goal of COP26 is to support and empower countries and communities on the frontline of climate change to tackle its devastating effects. That requires finance. A non-negotiable commitment from donor countries in Paris was to help deliver a global goal of mobilising $100bn per year from public and private sources. This will support developing countries, maintain trust between nations, and help leverage trillions of private sector dollars that must switch to sustainable investment within a decade (see our Race to Zero campaign).
Japan, Canada and Germany all put new money on the table at the G7. At the United Nations General Assembly in September, the US committed to double its international climate finance to over $11bn a year by 2024. The UK preceded these pledges with a doubling of climate finance to £11.6bn over the next five years. We are not at the $100bn target yet, but we have moved significantly closer in recent weeks.
Ensuring that financial and other kinds of support get to where they are needed is key. At the G7 this June, the UK, Germany and the US announced a scale-up of protection for the world’s most vulnerable communities. The UK and Germany committed almost a quarter of a billion pounds to disaster risk finance programmes that enable quicker responses when extreme weather and climate-linked disasters hit—from heatwaves and droughts causing poor harvest, to flooding and hurricanes destroying homes and livelihoods.
We are urging countries to support a Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) to help make one billion people in small holdings safer from disasters by 2025: by improving forecasting, early warning systems and rapid responses. Just 24 hours’ warning of a coming storm or heatwave can cut ensuing suffering and damage by around a third.
Through the Adaptation Action Coalition (AAC), the UK—in partnership with Egypt, Malawi, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, St Lucia and the UN—will accelerate global action to achieve a climate resilient world by 2030. We’re calling on all countries who signed the UN’s 2019 Call for Action on Adaptation and Resilience to join the AAC, to contribute their experiences and inform the process.
Progress is being made, but too slowly. Much more focus and commitment is needed before COP26, particularly from the G20 group of nations, to give hope to all communities and peoples. This will drive our diplomacy in the critical weeks ahead, as we aim to create the momentum and collective will to keep 1.5C alive.
