Our team is ready for COP26—and so are some delegations
Welcome to the COP26 Daily Tracker!
Climate Tracker’s team of journalists is reporting both from Glasgow and virtually from various countries.
Here are our main stories before day 1 of negotiations.
Our team of 10 journalists is already in Glasgow, getting ready to report on the upcoming UN climate negotiations, which are bound to be some of the most important in recent years.
Climate Tracker will also have 21 virtual fellows, reporting on the climate talks. Our team will provide detailed coverage of underreported issues from developing countries.
But first, let’s talk about COP26. After more than 3 decades of climate talks (and 3 decades of increase in world emissions), this COP arrives at a crucial turning point: the 2020s will be a crucial decade to reach the 1.5 °C. Our online fellow, Ethan Van Diemen explains the importance of COP26 in this interactive piece.
Another important thing about COP26 is that NDCs are not ambitious enough. Currently, climate pledges lead the world to a disastrous almost 3°C scenario, a recent UNEP report shows. Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, is one of the countries with an insufficient climate plan. Our online fellow Jairus Awo reports on the issue here.
Ending new fossil fuel projects will also be a key issue during COP26. This year a landmark IEA report said the world cannot build new coal, oil or gas plants, if it wants to meet the 1.5 °C goal. Some countries, however, are planning to expand their fossil fuel production. The South American nation of Guyana is one of the countries planning to expand oil projects. Our virtual fellow Vishani Ragobeer reports here.
What’s going on at the COP anyway?
Even though negotiations haven’t started yet at COP26, some countries are already moving to play their cards. Here are some brief highlights:
China updated its NDC, you can see the summary of the updated climate plan here, by our director Chris Wright. It includes some recent announcements like the country’s halt on coal financing abroad. In spite of this, some activists say the new climate plan is still a missed opportunity to demonstrate even higher ambition.
Asia Development Bank (ADB) is sending signals on a coal retirement mechanism in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. Retiring half of the coal plants in these 3 countries could save up to 200 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, the bank said. Read this story by Climate Tracker’s alum energy reporting fellow, Angelica Yang. This year ADB announced plans to retire coal, but the plan left a door open for fossil gas.
Climate finance and just transition will be big issues at COP26, after developed countries have failed to live up to their pledges. One example is South Africa, who will be seeking to borrow almost $30 billion USD to end its reliance on coal. The amount needed jumped $3bn compared to a week ago, when Reuters reported it.
Don’t miss out these reads!
Greta Thunberg says there are “no climate leaders” among “high income nations” and includes a bunch of good figures: There are no real climate leaders yet – who will step up at Cop26? | Greta Thunberg
Despite 30 years of climate diplomacy, urgent and aggressive action is needed to halt global warming. Nature explains what success looks like, and what’s on the line.
Signing off from the land of haggis and premium scotch! Thanks for reading this issue of COP26 Daily Tracker!
We’ll be back again on Monday to report on the first day of COP26.