Cop Out?: a reflection on COP26

COP OUT?

Words by Jessica Rowe

Maybe some of you will relate when I say that at the end of last year I had been approached by many a’young activists attempting to educate me about COP26. I listen, but of course retain nothing and leave the conversation feeling good for providing a listening ear, but nonetheless as ignorant as I was before. If you’re like me, passionate about world issues but struggling to keep up with the intricacies of politics, then you’re in luck! Here’s a breakdown of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

As explained on the official United Nations website, COP26 brought together 120 world leaders and over 40,000 registered participants including party delegates, observers and media representatives. The conference spanned over two weeks in the city of Glasgow. The outcome was the Glasgow Climate Pact, and new agreements were made in the areas of forests, coal, cars, methane and private finance.

At first glance, the outcomes of COP26 seem positive, like our world leaders are totally down with fighting climate change! So why did it seem like the Adelaide activists were so eagerly trying to mobilize the every-day person to get involved? Lucky for us, Maddy Tapley from Uni Students for Climate Justice is here to explain…

“After decades of summits like this one, global emissions have continued to rise. COP26 was nothing more than a conference of “blah blah blah”. World leaders committed to fighting climate change in rhetoric only, and even then, what they committed to is completely inadequate given the level of destruction we are already witnessing. Instead of buying into greenwashing events like COP26 we need to focus on the action (or inaction) of world governments. We believe that the fate of the world should not be left up to those who exploit its resources for profit. The urgency to fight for climate justice has never been greater, and we need that fight to happen in the streets because politicians clearly aren’t going to fight for us. We need a movement like the anti-uranium campaigns of the 70s and 80s that saw communities and workers mobilise to stop the mining and transportation of uranium for weapons manufacturing.”

Maddy Tapley

The SCOMO controversy Reading international publications like the New York Times calling out Scott Morrison and Australia’s “inertia” when it comes to tackling climate change, made me blush with embarrassment. There was literally a crowd-funded-billboard calling Morrison “coal-o-phile Dundee.”

Here are some of the reasons Australia was criticized for its actions during the conference: When asked by press whether Morrison would be attending COP26, he said he had “not made any final decisions,” explaining, “It’s another trip overseas… and I’ve spent a lot of time in quarantine” (standard.co, independent.co), we didn’t sign up to a pledge made by dozens of countries to phase out coal-fired power (abc.net), although the PM committed to a target of net zero emissions by 2050, he did not announce a target for 2030 & we are one of the last ‘developed’ countries to commit to zero emissions (abc.net, nytimes.com).

Maddy shares the general views of Uni Students For Climate Justice on the outcome of the conference and how Australia performed:

“Leaders committed to increasing their emission reduction targets and “accelerating efforts” to phasing down coal power. These targets were watered down over the course of the conference and come nowhere near to meeting the level of reduction needed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.

The Australian government lowered the bar even further, refusing to commit to increasing 2030 emission goals, instead touting ‘net-zero by 2050’ as their new green credential. This plan relies on the development of ‘future technologies’ such as carbon capture and voluntary action by big businesses to reduce their emissions. This couldn’t be a clearer case of abdication from taking action in the here and now where it’s so clearly needed. But what else could be expected from one of the biggest exporters of coal?

We need to put pressure on the government from below to establish appropriate climate targets, cease all fossil fuel operations and implement renewables on a vast scale. We need the kind of movement we saw from the 2019 climate protests and we need it now, otherwise, the bushfires of 2019 will become the new norm.”

For all the attention from the media that COP26 attracted, it seems it wasn’t enough to wake up our leader-ship to what Maddy explains is an issue of urgency. Like many in my generation, I am issuebased; I speak and care about the urgency of climate change, but you wouldn’t catch me reading the latest updates from Parliament regarding environmental policy. Hearing passionate activists like Maddy speak about the importance of putting pressure on the government from below has encouraged me to pay more heed to the decisions of our pollies, to watch them closely and critically, however dry policy may be.