The Glasgow climate conference is “a test for who we are as humans” according to Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan.
The delayed COP26 opens on Sunday, with world leaders gathering in the Scottish city on Monday and Tuesday. The conference is the biggest political moment in the climate crisis since governments met in Paris six years ago. While the Paris Agreement set the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C, Glasgow is where the world needs to agree on how to get there.
The climate talks take place amid the COVID19 pandemic that continues to overwhelm governments. Trust is low and tension is high among developing countries due to the vast inequity of the COVID vaccine roll-out and the Global North’s resistance to a so-called ‘TRIPS waiver’ that would remove barriers to increased production and fairer allocation of vaccines. With promises not being kept and greenwashing rife, climate change continues to hit the most vulnerable hardest, while carbon emissions from rich countries are rising rapidly.
Jennifer Morgan is one of the few people who has been to every one of the previous 25 COPs, going back to Berlin in 1995. Speaking on the eve of COP26 in Glasgow, she said:
“Paris was the engagement party, but now we’re at the wedding, waiting to see if the key countries and corporations are ready to say ‘I do’. Glasgow needs to see real commitment, real ambition and real action as there’s been a lack of all three in the run-up to the conference. While the next two weeks will involve many twists and turns, it’s not too late for leaders to agree a transformational, detailed plan of action.”