JUST TRANSITION BY CAOIMHE ARCHIBALD COP26 took place in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November. A COP or ‘Conference of Parties’ takes place annually, involving all states that are party to the ‘United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’. COP26 is the 26th such summit. The purpose of a COP is to review the implementation of the Convention, including the Paris Agreement which aims to keep global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures by the end of this century. A further purpose of a COP is to take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention. It is beyond question that we are in the midst of a climate crisis brought about by rising greenhouse gases as a result of human activity. The past six years have been the warmest on record since 1880 and global greenhouse gas emissions hit a new record high last year. In advance of COP26, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its sixth assessment report which was described as a ‘code red for humanity’. It detailed that temperatures globally will exceed 1.5 degrees over the next 20 years and 2 degrees before the end of the century.
The planning to meet our decarbonisation targets must be done with communities not to them Starkly, the report stated that “unless rapid and deep reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades, achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement will be beyond reach”. This is the context within which COP26 took place. In advance of COP26, goals were set out for the conference. Countries were asked to come forward with ambitious targets to reduce emissions by 2030 with a view to reaching net zero by the middle of the century. This would include accelerating the phasing out of coal, curtail deforestation, speeding up the switch to electric vehicles, and encourage investment in renewables. The conference would encourage countries to put in place measures to protect communities and natural habitats. And importantly, COP26 would seek to mobilise finance, with developed countries making good on their promise to mobilise at 10
• Climate Action march in Dublin, to coincide with the COP26 Conference
Sinn Féin is very clear that climate action must be delivered on the basis of social justice
least $100 billion in climate finance per year by 2020. The climate crisis is global; it will affect all countries and all communities, but some, often poorer countries, are already feeling the impact to a much greater extent and
they need the support of more developed states. The climate crisis does not recognise borders which is why action needs to be global, with ambitious local commitments to contribute to global targets and plans to achieve them. It is unacceptable that the Six Counties remains the only part of these islands without its own climate legislation, lagging behind other European countries. A bit like London buses, there are currently two bills proceeding through the Assembly in • Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan MLA attended COP26 in Glasgow
ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 anphoblacht
