COP26

What does COP stand for and why is it important?
COP stands for Conference Of Parties and is a global meeting of nations aimed at tackling the climate crisis. They’ve been meeting for nearly 30 years. Back in 2015 when nations met in Paris they hammered out a landmark climate agreement to keep global heating to well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees, to adapt to the impacts of the crisis and to ensure the money was available to make it happen. This year's conference is important for a number of reasons. At the global level it’s significant because this is the year nations are due to come to the conference with updated, stronger plans on how they’ll reach their targets. The next decade will determine our chances of reaching the 1.5 degree goal and with it our chances of limiting the worst impacts of the crisis. If we’re going to succeed over the next 10 years the Glasgow climate summit (also known as COP26) must end with decisive action. For us in the UK, it's the year we host the conference which is scheduled to take place from end October - November in Glasgow. This means we will play a huge role in determining whether the conference is a success or not. That requires us to step up and take action at home so we can call for it with credibility on the world stage.

What’s the gap between the UK’s climate targets and their delivery?
The UK government has brought forward some significant climate targets in recent months but it’s failed to match these with policies to achieve them. Analysis by Green Alliance has shown that the government’s policies announced since the start of 2020 aren’t enough to get the UK on track to its 2030 climate target. Our own analysis also shows that across four key climate areas the government is falling short time and again. These areas are fossil fuels and green energy, finance, forests and oceans and fairness. For example on fossil fuels and green energy to meet their climate leadership commitments the government needs to commit to no new fossil fuels and help workers make the switch to new green jobs. On finance they need to regulate the banks and financial institutions so they can’t fund climate wrecking industries. On forests and oceans they need to introduce a legally-binding target to begin to reverse the decline of UK nature by 2030. On fairness they must restore international Aid cuts and increase financial support to communities on the front line of the crisis. Bridging the gap between their targets and their ability to meet them means taking action on these areas and more swiftly.

Why is the UK government showing climate leadership hypocrisy?
The government has set strong climate targets, but too often it points to them as a show of leadership whilst its actions take us in the opposite direction. For example it continues to keep the door open to new licenses to be issued for new polluting oil and gas projects despite claiming to be a climate leader. Equally whilst claiming climate leadership it scrapped funding to help people cut carbon from their homes. This hypocrisy obviously makes it harder to reach our targets but it’s also noticed further afield. It makes our attempts to show leadership on the world stage much more difficult when world leaders meet here in the UK for this year's G7 and Glasgow climate summits.

What does a successful COP26 look like? What are we asking for?
The Glasgow climate summit is an important moment for the fight against the climate crisis. World leaders must come together and agree on ambitious action. We need all countries to have emissions reductions targets and plans, reflecting their level of economic development, which align them with the target of limiting global heating to 1.5C. Political leaders need to commit to phase out fossil fuels altogether, beginning with an immediate end to all new oil and gas projects. Polluting companies and countries cannot be allowed to offset emissions and instead should prioritise reducing fossil fuel emissions to zero while strongly protecting our forests and oceans. Climate justice has to be at the forefront too, so a successful conference would see countries commit to meet - and go beyond - the $100 billion per year international climate finance obligations, so countries on the front line of the crises aren’t left behind.

But will it be too expensive to achieve 1.5 degrees?
It’s important to remember that inaction is far more expensive than action. The landmark Stern review suggested the cost of inaction could be up to 20% of global GDP whilst estimating the cost of action is at around 2% of GDP. Stern is now saying the cost is worse than he initially feared. So letting the climate crisis take hold isn’t an option. With costs of the likes of renewables plummeting over the past decade, climate action has proven more affordable than predicted. It’s already predicted action will prove much cheaper than originally estimated when we first brought in climate targets. Reaching our most recent targets here in the UK have been declared affordable by the government’s own advisers. Acting also offers the government a chance to boost our economy. Prioritising a green recovery from COVID-19 through investment in things like energy efficiency, green infrastructure, Electric Vehicle charging and nature restoration could all help boost our economy and tackle the climate crisis.

Won’t the costs of tackling climate change fall on low- and middle-income households?
If the government takes the right actions this needn’t be the case - but it is true that delivering a fair climate transition needs to be a top priority for the government and at present they are arguably not giving enough attention to this. With the right attention, solutions are definitely possible - for example, by providing grants to help householders make changes to zero carbon options for areas like heating the government can ensure decarbonisation happens fairly. These grants could be financed through a carbon tax on big polluters. This can be further boosted if the government couples this with efforts to grow supply chains and drive down costs in areas like heating. It’s also important to remember that, as well as creating thousands of jobs, investing in green infrastructure will make Britain a cleaner, healthier and safer place to live. Warmer homes will cut energy bills. Cleaner air will cut costs from air pollution and help save lives. Better public transport will ease congestion. Nature restoration will reduce flood risk, boost tourism and improve mental health. So managed in the right way, the climate transition can be a win-win for our environment and society as a whole.

But isn’t the government number one in setting climate ambition. Haven’t we already reduced our emissions a lot?
Our emissions have come down over the past decade as we’ve seen renewable energy increase and polluting coal power all but disappeared from our energy mix. But this can only reduce emissions so much and without new action to build on this in transport, buildings, agriculture and industry we risk seeing progress run out of steam. World beating targets are only as good as the plans laid out to achieve them. So far, the government hasn’t matched their targets with detailed policies to make them happen. That’s why we’re calling for action across four areas - fossil fuels and green energy, forests and oceans, finance, and fairness. Spelling out plans in these areas is crucial if going to make good on our targets and truly show we’re world leaders in tackling the climate crisis.

The UKs impact on global carbon emissions is tiny compared to the US, China and Russia. What we do here doesn’t matter globally so it’s pointless to demand they show climate leadership.
The UK continues to be an influential nation globally, including being one of the biggest country economies in the world. That’s only been boosted by the fact we’re hosting the Glasgow climate summit this year. When the government signed up as hosts they took the leading role in encouraging the world's nations to step up and take stronger action to tackle the climate crisis. That means what we do matters because the eyes of the world are on us. It is far easier to fulfil our duty if we can point to a good track record of action at home. At the same time our weak action at home makes it harder to call for action from other nations.

Outside of the summit we continue to have an outsized impact on the world. Many high polluting companies are headquartered in the UK or have their shares floated on London Stock Exchange. Alongside this our financial sector provides billions of pounds towards funding fossil fuel projects around the world, all of which are producing huge amounts of carbon emissions. Our New report finds UK financial institutions are responsible for 1.8 times the UK’s annual net emissions of CO2. Reigning in these emissions requires our government to act by setting stronger rules.

There’s also a historical duty. As one of the first nations to industrialise we have over 150 years’ worth of emissions we’re responsible for. Having helped drive the industrial revolution and grown wealthy off the back of it we should be leading from the front clearing up a mess we helped begin.

What can we do about COP26 in Chesterfield?
Chesterfield Climate Alliance have set up the Chesterfield COP26 Alliance - a coalition of individuals and organisations such as Transition Chesterfield, Extinction Rebellion, Stand up to Racism and Chesterfield Trades Union Council. The Alliance will organise a number of activities and events in the lead up to COP26 designed to raise awareness about COP and encourage individuals and communities in Chesterfield and North Derbyshire to take action to address the climate and ecological crisis seriously as well as put pressure on local and national governments to do the same. Stay tuned on this page for details of actions you can join and get involved in.