COP26 continues

As I write, COP26 is still going on in Glasgow, even though it should have finished several hours ago. No formal agreement has been reached. Apparently the delegates are still wrangling over the details of how to limit the rise of global temperatures to less than 1.5 degrees C (we are already at 1.1 degrees since pre-industrial times) and hopefully there will be some sort of agreement by the end of the weekend. But finance for developing countries is an issue, as is the phasing out of coal. 

Over the last fortnight of COP26 there has been a feeling that this is a real chance to make a difference; if the 1.5 degrees limit isn’t met, climate change will be devastating for large swathes of the globe. 

Glasgow has also been full of demonstrations, with the unusual situation that the protestors have the same aim as the people that they are demonstrating against. However they don’t trust the official delegates, with their complex and often conflicting national loyalties, to get the job done. Last Saturday several of our friends were among 100,000 protestors who marched through the streets of Glasgow to George Square in torrential rain. They have certainly raised the profile of the climate summit even higher, and helped to put pressure on world leaders. 

In my usual fashion I don’t know what to think. It has to be a positive thing that climate change is being taken so seriously. But getting to a meaningful agreement and then sticking to it sounds like a massive task. Let’s hope that the delegates currently sequestered in the SECC succeed in their efforts.