If you want to know if something has succeeded, you should start by asking the people with the most to lose. In this case, that’s those already being hit hardest by climate change. We needed this COP to get us firmly on track to 1.5C to protect climate vulnerable nations, and it didn’t. [1] The only reason we got what we did is because young people, Most Affected People and Areas (MAPA) activists, Indigenous leaders, and supporters like you forced concessions that were grudgingly given.
While there was big fanfare at the beginning of the conference about stopping deforestation, world leaders effectively failed to address one of the largest drivers of forest destruction: meat and dairy consumption. [2] With forest protection on the line this year, COP26 saw strong leadership from Indigenous Peoples, including the largest Brazilian Indigenous delegation to ever attend the climate conference. [3] However, despite declarations of support from heads of state, their demands for demarcation of Indigenous land and their right to safety were largely ignored. [4] [5]
Richer nations finally began to respond to the calls of developing countries for extra funding and resources to cope with rising temperatures. [6] There was a recognition that vulnerable countries are suffering real loss and damage from the climate crisis now, but what was promised was nothing close to what’s needed—the Maldives’ top negotiator noted that “the difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees [celsius] is a death sentence for us.” [7] This issue must be at the top of the agenda for developed countries as the COP heads to Egypt next year.
In the final days of the conference, due to the work of frontline activists and Greenpeace supporters like you who sent tens of thousands of emails to UK COP President Alok Sharma, fossil fuels were included in the final agreement text for the first time ever. [8] The line on phasing down coal and phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies is extremely weak, but its existence is nevertheless a breakthrough. An important signal has been sent that the era of coal is ending—and nations will now have to come back next year with stronger commitments in order to keep temperature rise under 1.5C.
COP26 opened the gates for much more corporate and country greenwash scams of carbon offsets. Indigenous leader Sônia Guajajara again called out their hypocrisy: “A good portion of these businessmen that talk about zero carbon, are the same ones that are taking up legislative positions or are lobbying or weakening legislation at home, to facilitate access and exploitation of the environment.” [9] These offsetting scams endanger nature, further threaten the lives of Indigenous Peoples and potentially the 1.5C goal itself. [10]
