Tuesday, September 07, 2021

NGOs say COP26 climate summit must be postponed

Issued on: 07/09/2021 - 
Host government Britain said that the climate crisis was too urgent for the COP26 summit to be put off 

CHRISTOF STACHE AFP/File

Marseille (AFP)

A global network of more than 1,500 climate NGOs called on Britain to postpone the upcoming COP26 summit, saying Tuesday that a lack of Covid-19 vaccines risked sidelining developing countries.

An increase in Covid cases, unequal global vaccine rollout, and stringent quarantine requirements for more than 60 "red list" nations or territories hoping to attend the 12-day UN talks mean that "a safe, inclusive and just global climate conference is impossible," the Climate Action Network (CAN) said in a statement.

"Our concern is that those countries most deeply affected by the climate crisis and suffering from the lack of support by rich nations in providing vaccines will be left out," said Tasneem Essop, CAN's Executive Director.

"There has always been an inherent power imbalance within the UN climate talks and this is now compounded by the health crisis."

Host government Britain countered that the climate crisis was too urgent for the meeting to be put off.

A recently released UN climate science report shows "why COP26 must go ahead this November to allow world leaders to come together and set out decisive commitments to tackle climate change", COP President Alok Sharma told AFP, noting that the conference -- originally slated for last November -- has already been postponed once.

The northern hemisphere has been battered over the last three months by record-breaking extreme weather made worse by global warming, according to scientists who have developed tools to tease out the impact of climate change.

Deadly heatwaves in parts of North America and Europe; unprecedented flooding across western Europe, China and the United States; uncontrolled wildfires around the Mediterranean basin and in California -- all were made more intense or likely by global warming.

Britain has said it would cover accommodation costs for delegates subject to the quarantines, and has offered to provide fast-track vaccines.

"We are working tirelessly with all our partners, including the Scottish Government and the UN, to ensure an inclusive, accessible and safe summit in Glasgow," Sharma said.

But delegates who have applied for them have yet to get their jabs, according to the NGO group.

- 'Not fit for purpose' -

The British government said the vaccinations would start "this week," and that even with a four-week delay between doses there was still enough time to get the job done before COP26 kicks off on October 31.

Currently, more than 55 percent of Europeans are fully vaccinated, compared to about three percent in Africa.

Civil society campaigners, who play a crucial watchdog role as registered observers, will also likely face restricted access, CAN warned.

Developing countries will be deeply affected by decisions taken at the COP on issues ranging from climate finance, international carbon markets, and how to help poor nations cope with severe climate damages already incurred.

"A climate summit without the voices of those most affected by climate change is not fit for purpose," said Mohamed Adow, a longtime observer of the talks and director of the Nairobi-based think tank Power Shift Africa.

"If COP26 goes ahead as currently planned, I fear it is only the rich countries and NGOs from those countries that would be able to attend," he added.

"This flies in the face of the principles of the UN process and opens the door for a rich nations stitch-up of the talks."

CAN said the call to postpone COP26 should not be construed as a boycott of the climate talks.

"We will continue our work to push political leaders to deliver ambitious national climate targets, fulfil their responsibilities on climate finance, and phase out fossil fuels," it said.

© 2021 AFP


Should COP26 climate talks be postponed due to COVID risk?

By Danica Kirka | NewsPolitics | September 7th 2021
#1725 of 1727 articles from the Special Report:Race Against Climate Change

In this July 22, 2021 file photo, people demonstrate on the sidelines of a G20 environment meeting, in Naples, Italy. The UN climate conference, known as COP26, is scheduled for early November in Scotland. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta, File)

A coalition of environmental groups called on Tuesday for this year’s climate summit to be postponed, arguing that too little has been done to ensure the safety of participants amid the continuing threat from COVID-19.

The Climate Action Network, which includes more than 1,500 organizations in 130 countries, said there is a risk that many government delegates, civil society campaigners and journalists from developing countries may be unable to attend because of travel restrictions. The UN climate conference, known as COP26, is scheduled for early November in Scotland.

“Our concern is that those countries most deeply affected by the climate crisis and those countries suffering from the lack of support by rich nations in providing vaccines will be left out of the talks and conspicuous in their absence at COP26,’’ said Tasneem Essop, the network’s executive director. “There has always been an inherent power imbalance within the UN climate talks and this is now compounded by the health crisis.’’

The British government, which is hosting the event, quickly rejected calls for postponement, saying a recent scientific report shows the urgency for leaders to tackle the issue without further delay.

COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma said the conference had already been delayed a year due to the pandemic, but “climate change has not taken time off.’’

Climate change has not taken time off, which is why #COP26 must go ahead in person in November

The UK is funding quarantine hotels for accredited delegates from red list countries

This is in addition to our vaccines offer to ensure an inclusive, accessible & covid-secure summit— Alok Sharma (@AlokSharma_RDG) September 7, 2021

“We are working tirelessly with all our partners, including the Scottish government and the UN, to ensure an inclusive, accessible and safe summit in Glasgow with a comprehensive set of COVID mitigation measures,’’ he said in a statement.

The European Union’s climate monitoring service said on Tuesday that average temperatures across the continent this summer were the warmest on record.

Measurements by the EU’s Copernicus satellite monitoring program showed that June to August temperatures across Europe were about 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the 1991-2020 average, and 0.1 C warmer than the previous record recorded during the summers of 2010 and 2018.

Mediterranean countries in particular saw record-breaking temperatures this summer, along with devastating wildfires that prompted Greece this week to appoint a new minister of climate crisis and civil protection.

Associated Press writer Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed.


Postpone Cop26 for inclusive talks

Emily Beament
THE ECOLOGIST UK
Brendan Montague | 7th September 2021 |PA


Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Sir David Attenborough talk to school children at the Science Museum for Launch of the UK hosting of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). Flickr
Andrew Parsons / No10 Downing Street

An in-person meeting in November 'effectively excludes Global South government delegates, campaigners and journalists'.

Environmental groups have called for crucial UN climate talks being held in Glasgow to be postponed amid fears people from poorer countries will not be able to fully take part.

But the UK Government insists it is rolling out vaccines for foreign delegates and will fund quarantine hotels for those who would not be able to pay as part of efforts to ensure the COP26 conference in November can go ahead.

The talks, which aim to make countries deliver the greenhouse gas emissions cuts needed to curb devastating climate change, have already been postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic.

Inclusive

Now the Climate Action Network (CAN), a global network of more than 1,500 civil society organisations in more than 130 countries, is calling for a further postponement.

In a statement, the network warns that a “safe, inclusive and just global climate conference in early November will be impossible given the failure to support the access to vaccines to millions of people in poor countries, the rising costs of travel and accommodation, including for quarantine in and outside of the UK and the uncertainty in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic”.

CAN says that an in-person meeting in early November would effectively exclude many government delegates, campaigners and journalists, particularly from the “Global South” or developing countries, many of which are on the UK’s Covid-19 red list of countries people cannot normally travel from due to the pandemic.

The network says excluding these people from taking part in the conference would have serious implications for issues being discussed at the talks, such as providing finance for developing countries to help them cope with climate change and develop cleanly.

Tasneem Essop, executive director, Climate Action Network said: “Our concern is that those countries most deeply affected by the climate crisis and those countries suffering from the lack of support by rich nations in providing vaccines will be left out and be conspicuous by their absence at Cop26.

Fair


“There has always been an inherent power imbalance within the UN climate talks and this is now compounded by the health crisis.

“Looking at the current timeline for COP26, it is difficult to imagine there can be fair participation from the Global South under safe conditions and it should therefore be postponed.”

The relationship between rich and industrialised nations which are the biggest polluters and poorer countries who have added least to the crisis but will bear the biggest brunt of global warming impacts has long been a fraught one at UN climate talks.

That has been thrown into sharp relief by the pandemic and unequal access to vaccines, while a failure by developed countries to deliver on a decade-old promise to provide 100 billion US dollars a year in climate finance for developing nations also threatens the outcome of the summit in two months’ time.

Only the rich countries and NGOs from those countries would be able to attend.


Mohamed Adow, long-time observer of the talks and director of the Nairobi-based think tank Power Shift Africa, said: “If COP26 goes ahead as currently planned, I fear it is only the rich countries and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) from those countries that would be able to attend.

“This flies in the face of the principles of the UN process and opens the door for a rich nations stitch-up of the talks.

Mitigation

“A climate summit without the voices of those most affected by climate change is not fit for purpose.”

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has joined the global coalition of civil society groups calling for the postponement of the international climate conference.

Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Climate and Energy Program at UCS, said: “UCS is joining a coalition of diverse global civil society groups in calling for the postponement of COP26 because it is clear that the international climate talks, if they proceed as currently planned, cannot meet science-based public health guidelines in an equitable way.

"Importantly, this in no way takes the pressure off countries to address the climate crisis, especially richer nations like the United States that bear an outsized responsibility for heat-trapping emissions.

Inclusive


“We are calling on richer nations to take swift action to address the gross global COVID-19 vaccine inequity, including taking prompt action to secure a World Trade Organization trade-related intellectual property rights waiver; help scale up vaccine manufacturing capacity around the world; contribute to COVAX, the global vaccine sharing initiative; and limit the power of major pharmaceutical companies to control vaccine access.

She added: "We cannot end this pandemic unless everyone has access to vaccines and other life-saving medical care."

Downing Street said the hotel offer for travellers coming from red list countries was designed to help a “small number of people” who could not otherwise afford the £2,285 for an 11-night solo stay at a quarantine hotel upon arrival in the UK.

Alok Sharma, the President of COP26 and cabinet member, said the recent report by the UN’s climate science body, the IPPC, which put into stark relief the impact human activity such as burning fossil fuels is having on the planet, “underlines why COP26 must go ahead this November to allow world leaders to come together and set out decisive commitments to tackle climate change”.

He said: “We are working tirelessly with all our partners, including the Scottish Government and the UN, to ensure an inclusive, accessible and safe summit in Glasgow with a comprehensive set of Covid mitigation measures.

Funding


“This includes an offer from the UK Government to fund the required quarantine hotel stays for registered delegates arriving from red-list areas and to vaccinate accredited delegates who would be unable otherwise to get vaccinated.

“Ensuring that the voices of those most affected by climate change are heard is a priority for the Cop26 presidency, and if we are to deliver for our planet, we need all countries and civil society to bring their ideas and ambition to Glasgow.”

Delegates who would otherwise struggle to get vaccinated, including those from campaign groups and the media as well as government officials, have been offered Covid-19 vaccines by the UK Government, and the first jabs will be taking place this week.

Quarantine


The UK has also relaxed its quarantine requirements for travellers from abroad for delegates, and has now announced it will fund required hotel quarantine stays for party delegates, observers and media who are arriving from red list areas who would otherwise find it difficult to attend the conference, including all those from the Global South.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said the government did not know how much its hotel offer would cost, but denied it amounted to a “blank cheque”.

The No 10 official told reporters: “This is limited to a set and small number of people who will be coming from a select number of countries who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend.”

He said the funding was being made available because “it is important we have a broad contingent of people from across the globe present to tackle this global issue”.

This Author


Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent. Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist. This article was edited to include the statement from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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