With the UK hosts warning that lights are flashing red on the climate change dashboard, the COP26 UN climate summit kicked off on Sunday in Glasgow, marked by pointed warnings of growing threats as emissions-cutting pledges still fail to add up.
“I do not underestimate the challenge of reaching an effective deal to adequately slash emissions, Alok Sharma,” Britain’s COP26 president, told delegates at the talks’ opening.
But he added that I believe that we can resolve the outstanding issues.
Heavy rain poured down in Glasgow on the first day of COP26, and a fallen tree blocked train lines from London, forcing some red-faced delegates into last-minute flights or rental cars.
Others struggled to master the phone apps governing a daily coronavirus testing regime for attendees, some of whom showed up to the venue of one of the first major international gatherings since the start of the pandemic with negative tests in hand.
This is not a normal COP, Sharma admitted.
But the biggest hurdle facing COP26 may be the outcome of the G20 meeting of major economies in Rome this weekend, where leaders backed a 1.5-degree Celsius limit on global temperature rise but offered few new concrete commitments to achieve it.
As world leaders arrive at the talks in Glasgow on Monday, more ambitious emissions-cutting pledges will be crucial for the COP26 hosts to meet their overarching goal to keep 1.5 alive.
“If the G20 was a dress rehearsal for COP26, then world leaders fluffed their lines,” Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said in a statement, describing the G20 outcome as weak.
Alden Meyer, a senior associate at climate think-tank E3G, noted that much hard work - especially on issues of climate finance - remains ahead if COP26 is to reach an agreement on keeping the 1.5-degree Celsius goal in sight.
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