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What happened at COP26? Why is the Conference of the Parties process so important? And what are its limitations? The Pricing Nature team hears from Jonathan Elkind (Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy), Ineza Grace (Loss and Damage Youth Coalition), Patience Nabukalu (Fridays For Future Uganda), and Yale School of the Environment students Arunima Sircar, Anelise Zimmer, Ines Ayostina, and Luca Guadagno. Read more at pricingnature.substack.com.
Notable quotes:
On the fundamental role of COP:
Jonathan Elkind: “The Paris Agreement, by design, is an exercise in the global community all clapping arms around each other and saying, ‘We're going to walk forward, and we are together going to deal with the climate crisis.’”
On the challenge of representing a climate-vulnerable country at COP:
Ineza Grace: “What vulnerable countries are putting forward as a priority for them to survive… It’s not something that developed countries are willing to accept.”
On defining Loss & Damage finance:
Arunima Sircar: “I like to frame it in terms of the idea of compensation and climate reparations, which I think has a lot more equity and justice involved in it because it accounts for historical emissions, it accounts for the people who've been responsible for climate change so far to then take action…”
Further reading on today’s episode:
Hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists flooding COP26 climate talks, Global Witness
Understanding global contributions to the $100 Billion Climate Finance Pledge, World Resources Institute
Annotated text of the Glasgow Climate Pact, The Washington Post
Understanding the outcomes and future of Loss & Damage finance, The Heinrich Boell Foundation'
EU, US block effort for climate disaster funding at COP26, Politico
Human Rights concerns around the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, Business & Human Rights Resource Center
COP26 climate pledges could help limit global warming to 1.8C, but implementing them will be the key, International Energy Agency
Climate Action Tracker Thermometer
Capacity building at COP26, UNFCCC
‘We are sinking’: Tuvalu minister gives COP26 speech standing in water
2021 Gender Composition Report, UNFCCC
Non-negotiated developments from COP26:
Asian Development Bank speeds coal plant closures in Philippines, Indonesia
Moving South Africa away from coal
Cover Photo by Casey Pickett