Connecting to COP26

COP is short for Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the latter half of this title is abbreviated UNFCCC). These semi-annual conferences are the arena in which critical international agreements like the 2015 Paris Accords are negotiated. This year's conference (COP26) is slated to be held in early November in Glasgow, Scotland and comes at a particularly critical and uncertain time.

The 2015 Paris Accord centered on an agreement by 197 countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to slow the increase in the 2100 average annual temperature of the planet to between 1.5 and 2.0°C above the preindustrial mean temperature. The reduction commitments the signatories brought to the table in 2015 were not sufficient to get us to this target, so the agreement also included 2020 as a year where nations would submit new commitments, reflecting increased ambition sufficient to reach the 1.5 to 2.0° C target.

Of course, as we all know, 2020 was the first year of a global pandemic that paralyzed much of the world economy, and made the kind of traveling associated with an international event like COP26 unsafe. So the UNFCCC secretariat (the UN agency involved with climate negotiations) postponed the conference until 2021.

Fast forward to 2021: We are still in the grips of the same pandemic with the nations of the world struggling to reboot their economies. It has also been a year of record climate related natural disasters - Continued drought and wildfires, extreme heat events in the western United States, major flooding in Europe, stronger hurricanes in the Caribbean, etc. Furthermore, it has been the year when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the first volume of its sixth assessment report, stating unequivocally that we have less than a decade to drastically revamp our energy economy, agriculture, and forestry to keep global temperature within the 1.5 to 2.0°C target range. The consequence of not doing so would be that we leave our children with a legacy of an increasing inhospitable climate of which 2021 was just the prelude.

The climate has no borders. Runaway climate change is a critical problem no one country can solve, leaving no one isolated from its effects. Addressing it is an international project requiring both multi-national cooperation and grassroots effort. The UNFCCC process, despite its imperfections, is one of the few common tables where all levels of society have a chance to do the necessary work to provide a positive environmental legacy to our children and grandchildren.

The three main groups attending a COP are government negotiators, registered observers representing a wide variety of groups from civil society, and support staff and volunteers. Attendance at these conferences ranges from 10,000 to 40,000 people, with venues rotating between major cities in various continents.

The urgent and global nature of climate change requires that we increase the number of people involved with these events, lest the UNFCCC process fails because of a lack of grassroots support and involvement. However, in practice, physically including more people at a COP is extremely difficult.

First, going to a COP is an expensive and time consuming process. Second, in their current form, COPs are extremely expensive and logistically complex endeavours. Finally, more people traveling to far flung parts of the world comes with its own set of environmental challenges.

One of the outgrowths of the past year and a half is that virtual meetings and remote communication have become commonplace for a great many of us. Furthermore, many groups have also become proficient with organizing and conducting online conferences, in some instances greatly expanding attendance at annual meetings.

This gives those of us lacking the resources to be an in person observer or a volunteer at a COP with avenues for experiencing some of the richness of these events and adding our own voices to the international arena.

• Access the events from the comfort of your own home or office: In the age of Covid this is probably one of your safest options. It is also one of your most flexible. With many of the events accessible from this portal, you can listen in real time, meaning you have the opportunity to ask questions. In some cases there may even be the opportunity to have discussions with other participants. Also in many cases the events are recorded meaning that you can access them at more convenient times.

• Form a watch party to watch selected events with other people: Though a bit risky in these pandemic times, with proper precautions watch parties give you the opportunity to discuss ideas and actions with others in real-time in a more natural way than solo video-conferencing. Here are some examples and suggestions for doing so...

  1. • Climate Cafe - A network of regular gatherings started in 2015 aimed at providing a safe and inviting space to talk about climate issues and organize actions in response to them. Beginning as a presentation by a Climate Reality Leader in a village in Scotland, the cafe has mushroomed into an international movement. In support of COP26 the Scottish cafes have been working with the Scottish government to virtually link these gatherings to the conference.

     • Climate Cafe Multi-faith - An opportunity for religious leaders and clergy to hear from climate leaders and engage in discussion of climate change, impacts and solutions. Based on a idea developed in Scotland, this Cafe meets on-line three times a month. The cafe gateway includes both links to future events and recordings of past ones.

     • PDX Climate Bridge - A predecessor to Connecting to COP26, the Climate Bridge is the online companion to two virtual bridge gatherings hosted by Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon in 2019. The goal of these gatherings was to link local people to the events taking place at COP25 in Madrid. These were a combination of watch party, live panel discussion, informal networking, and exhibits by local climate related organizations.

• Refer to the gateway RMI at COP

• Refer to the gateway World Resources Institute Events

List under construction

List under construction

Upcoming events

• 3 November - Educator workshop on connecting to COP26 by the Paleontological Research Institute. The link for this event is forthcoming.

Past events (recordings may be available on the organizer's website)

• 14 October - The Art and Science of What Catches on - A webinar from the World Resources Institute on the science and art of climate communication.

• 19 October - People Centered Action through ACE - A webinar from Climate Generation on the US Action for Climate Empowerment delegation to COP26

Upcoming events

• 
  

• 31 October - Interfaith Talanoa Dialogue Towards COP26 and Interfaith Service (online participation posible) - Organised by the interfaith Liaison to the UNFCCC

• 2 November - Faith in Action for Climate Justice (online participation possible) - Co-organized by ACT Alliance, Christian Aid, Green Anglicans, Lutheran World Federation, WCC, and others

• 6 November - Liturgy for Planetary Crisis / Episcopal Worship Service during COP26 - Organized by the Episcopal Church. Also on the same day, #Climate Vigil, a virtual faith and environment event organized by EEN (Evangelical Environmental Network)

Past events (recordings may be available on the organizer's website)

• 17-18 October - Faiths 4 Climate Justice - A global hub for local interfaith actions in the lead-up to COP26 produced by Greenfaith.

• 28 October - COP26, Fossil Fuel Divestment and a Just Transition for All - Co-organised by Green Anglicans, GreenFaith, Laudato Si’ Movement, Operation Noah and World Council of Churches (WCC)

• 29 October - Episcopal Climate Advocacy at the UN – COP26 Kick-Off with the Presiding Bishop’s Delegation - Organised by the Episcopal Church in the USA

• Refer to the gateway RMI at COP

• Refer to the gateway World Resources Institute Events