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GLASGOW – Presidents and prime ministers have left the city. Now the hard work beginsOver the next week and a half, diplomats crouch in a cavernous tent complex at UN climate talks, trying to strike deals to reduce planet-warming emissions.
More nations than ever before promise to reduce emissions, step away from coal, eliminate deforestation and provide money to help poor countries adapt. Environmental groups and poor countries are not so optimistic. They’ve seen promises come and go before.
Here are five takeaways from the early, crazy days of the climate conference:
Organizing a global conference in a pandemic is difficult.
More than 39,000 people registered for the summit. One problem: Capacity at the main venue is limited to 10,000 people due to Covid restrictions.
This can cause bottlenecks, long security lines and especially among civil society groups He was already angry that the UN had closed its presence in the negotiating halls.
Anyone entering the space known as the “blue zone” is required to take a daily rapid coronavirus test. But despite all the strict control talk, participants are not required to report their results. This is basically an honor system.
The United States ‘appeared.’
For nearly four years, the United States has worked to undermine the progress of climate negotiations. Former President Donald J. Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement and burn more, not less, gas, oil and coal.
President Biden came to Glasgow and translated the script. He promised to show the world that the United States “leads by the strength of our example.”
When asked if leaders from other countries, particularly China and Russia, disagreed, Mr. Biden said, “We’re here.”
But some important leaders did not.
absence Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was notable.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison appeared – but with an emissions target that experts say is far behind what is needed. Brazil has pledged to end deforestation by 2028. Activists are skeptical that Mr Bolsonaro will follow suit.
According to experts, both Russia and China have targets that are not sufficient to keep the planet in a relatively safe orbit. Mr. Biden, who left Glasgow, scolded Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin for not attending. Officials in Beijing responded by stating that Mr. Biden was unable to persuade his own party to vote on the climate law necessary to achieve the aggressive goals of the US.
Sparring will not solve the climate crisis. And it remains unclear whether China and the United States, the two biggest sources of emissions, will be able to overcome trade and human rights tensions to work together.
Money promised, but will it flow?
Banks and other lenders say they have $130 trillion to finance projects Aiming to bring companies and countries to net zero emissions. The number, which is more than five times larger than the US economy, made the headlines.
Environmentalists quickly poured cold water on him, arguing that few details were given and that banks still invest hundreds of billions of dollars in fossil fuels each year.
Next goal: Finishing coal
Poland, Vietnam, Egypt, Chile and Morocco are among the 18 countries that pledged on Thursday to phase out coal-fired production and stop building new power plants. The British hosts of the UN conference want to leave their mark by ensuring that the end of coal is “in sight”.
However, the issue is deeply controversial. At the start of the summit, Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama told Australian Mr Morris that “coal has no place in this century”. Mr Morris said he would not openly discuss fossil fuel orders or bans.
We expect further reactions from Australia, as well as China, India and Russia in the coming days, to any language that formalizes coal phasing in any final decision from the summit.
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