COP refers to the United Nations Climate Change Conference and its 26th gathering took place at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. After number of carbon heavy international travels for the world leaders to show up in Glasgow in addition to year around coordinations and discussions among countless supporting staffs, they were able to reach an agreement to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degree. The agreed upon decision include agreement on phasing down unabated coal power and inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels, and support of 100 billion dollars annually from developed to developing countries.
I have yet to find out what money can buy in this case when a thought through deliberation of what needs to be done in terms of helping all the developing nations up to speed with making a transition toward a networked, 4th industrial revolution society without having to go through carbon heavy industrialization. It will require massive education and shift in skill set of people in those respective countries and it is not something that money alone can buy easily.
While it is great to hear that the world leaders were able to reach something called Paris rulebook, which essentially is fundamental norms related to Article 6 on Carbon Markets. On the flip side, it shows that the Paris Accord signed in 2016 was more of a local and a direction rather than an actionable plan. I wish we have had actionable plans and enforcing mechanisms in 2016 already, or 10, 30 years ago.
I am worried even COP26 is not enforceable enough as it misses exactly how we will work together to make a change and how we are going to let people accept to live a little less comfortably for the earth, for our descendants and for all of us. In that sense, I awe Urgenda Foundation out of Netherlands. They are the only one who sued its own government to make them accountable for the slogans and come up with a credible action plan including setting 25% reduction from 1990 levels by 2020 the government's goal.
We are all living on a borrowed land. We are allowed to enjoy the earth while we are here but we are not permitted to destroy it so that our future generation will not even have a chance to appreciate how beautiful and admirable it is.
It is time to discuss action plans and cut the slack.
Daniel