ESG Newsletter: COP 26 Special Editions – 29th October 2021
Your update on COP26
Welcome to our ESG+ COP26 Special Edition. Over the next four weeks, we will be sharing key highlights from the Glasgow gathering, as well as insights and analysis from our ESG & Sustainability experts at FTI Consulting.
COP26 comes at a critical juncture for countries, corporations and citizens. All eyes are on Glasgow to see whether leaders can make progress towards limiting global warming to 1.5°C and avoid the cascade of Earth system tipping points that scientists say will follow if we breach that threshold. Our Friday updates will give a perspective on whether efforts to “keep 1.5 alive” at COP26 are succeeding.
COP26: The world’s best last chance?
As COP26 gets underway, here’s a quick reminder of how we got here, and what to expect.
Since 1995 the leaders of 195 nations, all signatories of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), have gathered annually to discuss actions to mitigate climate change at the Conference of Parties (COP). In 2015, the landmark Paris Agreement committed world leaders to work together to address climate change, specifically, to ensure that the increase in global average surface temperature remains “well below” 2°C, and to “pursue efforts to limit it to” 1.5°C. All signatory nations were required to then develop and commit to their own greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies, called nationally determined contributions or NDCs.
The Paris Agreement and popularising of the concept of net zero kick-started a notable and significant shift in political and regulatory attention and corporate commitments, triggering targets and action from all parts of society to mitigate and adapt against climate change. Despite this, the latest independent assessment of physical climate science published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in August concluded that not only is human activity unequivocally the cause of rapid global heating, but that global temperatures are very likely to rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels or more, on current trajectories. And just this week the UN’s Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report estimated that current NDCs will deliver only a 7.5% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 versus the 55% needed to achieve 1.5°C, putting the earth on a course for warming of 2.7°C by 2100.
This is the context and the challenge against which the UN’s Climate Change Conference, co-hosted by the UK and Italy, will play out – and for many participants and observers, COP26 could represent the world’s “best last chance” to steer humanity away from climate catastrophe.
As world leaders, scientists, civil society and the private sector begin to gather in Glasgow this weekend, we spoke to Claire O’Neill, former UK Minister of State for Energy and FTI Senior Adviser on what we can expect from COP26.
FTI Consulting will be hosting a post COP26 webinar discussion with Claire O’Neill following the conclusion of the conference. Sign up here.
Week One – Presidency Programme
| Week One | ||||||
| Sunday October 31st |
Monday November 1st |
Tuesday November 2nd |
Wednesday November 3rd |
Thursday November 4th |
Friday November 5th |
Saturday November 6th |
| Procedural Opening of Negotiations | World Leader’s Summit Welcoming world leaders to COP to put forward high level ambition and action towards securing global net zero and keeping 1.5 degrees in reach; adapting to protect communities and natural habitats; and mobilising finance. |
Finance Mobilising public and private finance flows at scale for mitigation and adaptation. |
Energy Accelerating the global transition to clean energy. |
Youth and public empowerment Elevating the voice of young people and demonstrating the critical role of public empowerment and education in climate action. |
Nature Ensuring the importance of nature and sustainable land use are part of global action on climate change and a clean, green recovery. |
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| The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.
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