Six months ago, world leaders met in Glasgow and agreed to a new global agreement to combat climate change, entitled ‘the Glasgow Climate Pact’, at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26. Six months on from this, the world has changed dramatically – the pandemic is no longer as big an issue as it was, but the economic effects of lockdown are felt across the world with uncontrollable inflation and a huge cost-of-living squeeze. In addition, Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin unleashed war in Europe when he invaded Ukraine in February, putting global energy and food security at risk. Alok Sharma has warned world leaders that there needs to be a continued focus and determination to reach the targets set out in the Glasgow Climate Pact despite the issues of the present day.
While the Glasgow Climate Pact is not legally binding, it does set the global agenda on climate change until 2031. Countries agreed to: cut carbon emissions to keep temperatures rises within 1.5 degrees Celsius, ‘phase down’ the use of coal after China and India vetoed the term “phase out”, financially support developing countries in switching to clean energy, and phase out fossil fuel subsidies that will lower the price of coal, oil, and natural gas. However, reaching these targets is becoming more and more challenging as the war in Ukraine rages and fuel prices soar.
In a speech marking 6-month’s since world leaders agreed to unprecedented targets to help reverse the damaging effects of climate change, COP26 President and Conservative Party Minister Alok Sharma said:
“Six months have now passed since Presidents and Prime Ministers came to Glasgow since the SEC held the biggest international summit the United Kingdom has ever hosted. And in that time, the world has changed. The clouds have darkened over the international landscape. War, has returned to Europe. The tectonic plates within our geopolitics have shifted. Inflation is spiking around the world. Debt is mounting. Energy prices are rising. And globally, people are struggling to feed their families, all as we continue to deal with the effects of the pandemic. Now, as a result, climate is understandably no longer on the front pages as it was in the lead up to, and at, COP26. Yet the current crises should increase, not diminish, our determination to deliver on what the world agreed here in Glasgow.”
In addition to highlighting the challenges faced in meeting these targets, Alok Sharma gave a frank analysis of the progress we are making:
“Leaders have not done enough to deliver on their Glasgow commitments, and that must change.
We need every nation to pick up the pace. We need every leader to show that their words were not hollow, that their commitments were made with integrity, and that they recognise that though the immediate challenges we face are grave, we will only inflame them if we falter. It is leaders who made promises, it is leaders who must honour them."
The importance of combatting climate change for the BAME community around the world and in the United Kingdom is something that this blog has spoken about in great detail. Studies show that, due to socio-economic factors, the BAME community is much more vulnerable to the damaging effects of climate change. This is why it is vital that leaders remain focused on meeting these targets and ensuring that we reverse the disastrous effects of climate change. In particular, with reference to the global energy price crisis and Ukrainian invasion, it is more important now than ever to become energy independent and ensure Russia can never force countries to choose between heating homes and allowing Putin to kill innocent civilians again. It is imperative we remain focused and determined to reach these targets, for both the present and the future.