The Climate Column

COP26 comes to Glasgow

Patrick Dunne

It is finally here. The COP26— the 26th UN Conference of the Parties climate change summit —is happening in Glasgow just as this edition of Herbology News lands. What will it achieve? After the controversial actions of Insulate Britain, the group of environmental activists who have been causing roadblocks since September, how will the activists and protesters surrounding the conference be portrayed in the press? After the response to the proposed Cambo oil field development (see #StopCambo on social media), and as the Paid to Pollute claimants take the government to the High Court over fossil fuel subsidies, will the court of public opinion finally bring pressure on the heads of the British leaders? Will the recent floods, droughts, fires, and oil spills— not to mention the ongoing warnings of future chaos —inspire or shame the leaders of economies and corporations to instigate legally binding reductions in carbon emissions, and to make meaningful commitments to arrest biodiversity loss? And will they do so in a way that centres justice, economic reform, and the rights of indigenous peoples above profit and maintaining the lifestyle of a minority of rich, mostly Western, countries?

There are still more questions. Will Boris prioritise necessary economic change while the fragile British economy is still (despite what he says) reeling from Brexit and Covid? Will anyone in the US Senate pay attention, or is the insular instinct of the American political system and the hangover from the Trump administration too pressing for President Biden to risk political capital on? Will Australia bow to pressure to address its addiction to coal? Will Russia make concessions on its gas industry, or Germany its coal? What will China do? And the Saudi oil interests?

When the rightwing, conservatives or neoliberals (whatever the label may be) argue that the proposed climate adaptation and mitigation measures are ‘too expensive’, will anyone stand up with the counterargument: that the true cost of inaction is simply more than the planet can bear? Will anyone seriously discuss capitalism and degrowth and new ways to structure the economy, or will the powerful and rich do what the powerful and rich always seem to do to protect money and power? With whom will the media side? Will sufficient numbers of frontline activists and Global South land and water defenders be able to attend— and, if they are, will their voices be heard? Will Greta get listened to for longer than it takes a politician to take a selfie, and for Fridays for Future to post clips of her speech to a beaming audience of executives and politicians— who will then simply ignore her?

Will there be talk of climate justice, debt cancellation and real funding to support those communities who are already being poisoned, displaced, and burnt out or flooded from their homes? Or will we just hear incomprehensible wrangling about carbon trading, capture and storage, and future fixes? And— insult to injury —will we have to suffer hearing from the Heartland Institute, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, or those other organisations whose role it is to delay, obfuscate and create the illusion of there being ‘two sides’? In the grand tradition of tobacco companies and opioid-producing drug companies, their method is to argue for more time— for research, for conversation, for inaction —instead of the speedy legislation and radical crisis-averting action that is needed.

Will any decisions be made? By the time you read this, will there be any difference left to make? Will it all be sewn up, for good or for ill, by the time you read this in early November. Should you bother going to Glasgow on the 6th November for the protest march and the Global Day of Action? Is it too late to challenge your elected officials, to try to leverage anything from COP26? Is there really any hope that there will be an intentional transformation of society away from the capitalist consumption the planet, and the destruction of people and places standing in the way of the profit motive? Is there any way we can reduce carbon emissions, find ways to store carbon, recenter our relationship to nature, as well as repair our relationships to each other and to ourselves? Is there any hope at all that we can find a way to better live on this earth, knowing ourselves to be interconnected with all life on earth?

The answer to the last question, I believe, is yes. It is always yes. COP26 is not the final chance for us to find a better way of living on this earth; in fact COP26 will not really even attempt to make the radical transformations I believe we need to build that life. But millions of people are already building that life in their communities around the world. And that is a reassuring thought.

The COP focuses the world’s attention, and enough public pressure may bring some positive outcomes in some important areas. However, I am not optimistic for COP26. There will be huge public and media attention and big headlines about ‘last chances’, and this may lead to the media proclaiming that we have blown our last chance to save the world, or— more dangerous, perhaps — claiming that ‘the world has been saved’ by some minor accounting trick dreamed up by oil-producing nations and by promises of future (always future) technological solutions. COP26 will neither ruin our chances, nor save the world. It is, at best, a step on the journey to a better way. I want to be a part of that better way, so I will try to manage my disappointments and my media consumption. I will try to stay involved with the activists in Glasgow and to support actions on the ground there. I will go to the march on the 6th November, and I will try to stay active in building— in my own small way, in my own small community —the better way of living that we want.

Hopefully see you in Glasgow, and beyond.

For more information and to get involved: COP26 Coalition – www.cop26coalition.org

Paid to Pollute – www.paidtopollute.org.uk

Stop Cambo – www. stopcambo.org.uk