The age of climate diplomacy – a history of the COP conferences
“The danger of global warming is now well and truly evident, so we must hurry to make changes and sacrifices. We have been living too long at the expense of future generations” – Margaret Thatcher
In 1992, during a United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, nations all across the world agreed to officially take action on the issue of climate change. This agreement was called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (more commonly known as UNFCCC) and was charged with organising an annual conference for all nations to tackle the issue of climate change. Thus, the concept of climate diplomacy was born.
This annual conference is the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (nicknamed COP), and the 2020 conference (postponed a year due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis) is the 26th iteration. Given no one would ever manage such a mouthful, the name COP26 was born. Perhaps the most famous COP conference within our lifetime is COP21, more commonly known as the Paris Agreement. Here, 195 nations agreed the goal of keeping the rise in mean global temperature “well below 2oC”. However, only one country, The Gambia, is deemed to be taking “sufficient” action to meet this. The UK, Nepal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco are rated as taking “almost sufficient” action.
Unlike the Paris agreement, COP26 isn’t focussed on a treaty – instead, it’s a meeting for countries to state their individual and combined commitments to the cause of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. These are known as NDCs (nationally determined contributions), and are the pledges given by each country, based off priorities, needs and prospects, to reduce carbon emissions by a given percent by a given date, as well as the date they commit to reaching net-zero emissions. COP26 was originally scheduled for 2020, but due to travel limitations caused by the pandemic, it was postponed to 2021, and is now occurring between 31 October and 12 November. British Conservative MP Alok Sharma is serving as President of the conference. It will be the largest summit the UK has ever hosted, with 30,000 delegates in attendance; however various leaders, namely China and Russia, will not be attending the event
Pre-conference, India’s presence at the summit was also questioned, though fortunately PM Modi is currently at COP. Considering the fact that India is the world’s worst polluter, this uncertainty led many to question whether the conference would run as usual. The minister for energy in India, Raj Kumar Singh, has argued that it is unfair to prevent developing countries from limiting carbon in the name of climate change. He argued that developing nations “have the right to develop, they want to build skyscrapers and have a higher standard of living. You can’t stop it”. The UK, for example, went through our industrial revolution between 1760 and 1840, long before the concept of climate change and global warming had been invented. Therefore, many argue, why is it fair for more advanced countries such as ourselves to prevent less advanced countries from developing in just the same way as we did? India for example, is investing heavily in solar energy, but have also stated that they will rely on coal to boost their economy post-COVID, which has been heavily criticized by other nations. Many developing nations share this view, so is likely to be an issue heavily discussed at COP26, especially following Boris Johnson’s speech to the UN General Assembly about humanity just having to “grow up”. Diplomacy and strategic rivalry between China and the USA have also caused issues, with the US arguing that climate change should be an isolated issue and therefore negotiations should occur separately to other international affairs. However, China have rejected this view, arguing that this cannot be separated from the general relationship of the two countries – President Xi Jinping will not be attending, with a delegate to take his place.
According to the COP26 website the goals of this conference include securing global net zero by mid-century in order to keep 1.5 degrees within reach and adapting to protect communities and natural communities. Whilst much of what is going to be agreed hasn’t yet been announced, there are some changes we can expect here in the UK. From 2030, a ban on petrol and diesel cars will require users to switch to electric vehicles. Households are being encouraged to insulate their homes and switch to low-carbon heating to enable the phase out of gas boilers.
It is yet to be seen whether COP26 will be deemed a success, but it is certainly a turning point in the history of climate diplomacy.
