COP26 Daily Review: Tuesday 2nd November
COP26 has only been running a few days but already there has been tonnes of news stories, events and progress being made. Before taking a look at what's happening tomorrow on Wednesday 3rd November, recap the events of today with us. Highlights include:
A recap from the CHEC team
Climate Protests Continue
Deforestation Breakthrough?
US and EU Methane Deal
World Leaders Prepare to Leave
CHEC Attends Multiple Events at COP26
It was a busy day for the CHEC delegate team at COP26 on Tuesday 2nd November. Members of the team attended a variety of events and met a whole range of different attendees in the process. It was a great day with the highlights covered below in our short daily video and photo montage.
CHEC Board Member and Trustee, Trevor Peel, University of Girona student, Ana Parsha and CHEC Chairman, Mark Robinson at COP26
CHEC Board Member and Trustee, Subbu Loganathan, Head of Sustainable Development at University of Strathclyde, Dr Tracy Morse and CHEC Chairman, Mark Robinson at COP26
CHEC Board Member and Trustee, Trevor Peel and CHEC Chairman Mark Robinson visiting the South African desk at COP26
CHEC attended the joint declaration between Honduras and IFAD
CHEC at the Urban Informality and Inequality: A Call for Climate Justice by UKRI, Cities Alliance and The Commonwealth Local Government Forum
Climate Protests Continue
Climate protests have been half of the story at COP26. There were plenty in the lead up to the event and they've not stopped. Today, protests have occurred throughout the UK as activists aim to put pressure on World Leaders to do the right thing to tackle climate change.
Just over a mile from COP26, 200 protesters targeted JP Morgan and Scottish Power. Police ended up blocking the protesters from getting onto the M8.
The M56, near Manchester Airport, was also bought to a standstill earlier in the day when protesters glued themselves to the tarmac. A similar protest took place and blocked roads in Birmingham.
Deforestation Breakthrough?
Here in the UK, we all woke to the news that over 100 countries had committed to end deforestation by 2030. This was a big news story as we all know the damage deforestation has and continues to cause around the world.
The Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use is being billed as a big breakthrough as it includes countries such as Brazil and Indonesia who have both destroyed thousands upon thousands of acres of forests.
The list of signatories can be found below:
Albania
Andorra
Angola
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Belize
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cote D’Ivoire
Cyprus
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Democratic Republic of the Congo
European Commission on behalf of the European Union
Ecuador
Estonia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea Bissau
Guyana
Honduras
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Malta
Mauritius
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Niger
Nigeria
North Macedonia
Norway
Pakistan
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Republic of Congo
Romania
Russia
Saint Lucia
Samoa
San Marino
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Tanzania
Togo
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Ukraine
Uruguay
United Kingdom
USA
Vanuatu
Vietnam
Zambia
Zimbabwe
The Declaration has secured multiple streams of funding which is adding to the optimism over its potential success. Usually commitments such as these lack the funding to see the project through. However, this could be different. The funding streams that have been organised are:
£8.75 billion of public climate finance from 2021 to 2025 to a new Global Forest Finance Pledge
£1.1 billion to protect the forests of the Congo Basin
$1.7 billion from 2021 to 2025 to advance Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ forest tenure rights and support their role as guardians of forests and nature.
The mobilisation of £5.3 billion of private sector funding.
US and EU Methane Deal
Also announced today as the Global Methane Pledge. The pledge was jointly launched by the US and the EU. The goal of the Global Methane Pledge is to limit methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
Over 100 countries have agreed to join the pledge which hope to reduce warming by at least 0.2 degrees Celsius by 2050. If the goal is achieved then it is estimated that it "would prevent over 200,000 premature deaths, hundreds of thousands of asthma-related emergency room visits, and over 20 million tons of crop losses a year by 2030".
The countries signed up to the pledge are as follows:
Albania
Andorra
Argentina
Armenia
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cote D'Ivoire
Croatia
Cyprus
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Estonia
Ethiopia
European Commission on behalf of the European Union
Federated States of Micronesia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Honduras
Iceland
Indonesia
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kitts & Nevis
Korea
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Liberia
Libya
Luxembourg
Malawi
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mexico
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
North Macedonia
Norway
Nuie
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Philippines
Portugal
Republic of the Congo
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Singapore
Slovenia
Spain
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Togo
Tonga
Tunisia
USA
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Vanuatu
Vietnam
Zambia
World Leaders Prepare to Leave
Today is the final day that most of the World Leaders will be at COP26. With Boris Johnson flying home by private jet, many have questioned whether World Leaders are taking the climate crisis serious enough.
However, with still a week and a half of events, negotiations and discussions ahead, there is still plenty of time to make climate progress with or without World Leaders.
You can read a preview of tomorrow's COP26 events here: COP26 Daily Preview: Wednesday 3rd November.
