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Welcome to C40 COP26 Daily Briefings, a new C40 service to inform you of what's happening at the 26th UN Conference on Climate Change taking place in Glasgow, Scotland from October 31 to November 12, 2021. This daily COP26 briefing recaps the activities and announcements of the day and lets you know what's coming up the following day to ensure you are kept fully up to date on all COP26 discussions. You are receiving this email because you are a C40 member, or a C40 partner, or have joined the Cities Race to Zero campaign. If you do not wish to receive our emails, please unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this briefing. We hope these briefings will help you understand what's at stake at COP26. Happy reading!
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What happened in the formal COP26 intergovernmental process?
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- Monday marked the first day of the World Leaders’ Summit, the 48-hour high-level political segment of COP26, where over 100 Heads of State detailed how their countries will contribute their fair share of climate finance to keep global warming within the 1.5°C threshold.
- The need for accelerated action by all was heard, loud and clear. António Guterres, explicitly standing with youth leaders, called out developed and emerging economies to “go the extra mile” and invited countries to re-visit NDCs every year until 1.5°C is assured.
- Many spoke of the need to move beyond US $100 billion to mobilise the trillions to achieve 1.5°C, pointing out the need to improve the role played by the World Bank and Multilateral Development Banks in climate finance.
- The powerful speech delivered by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, highlighted loss and damage as a critical topic for leaders of climate-vulnerable nations. Speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Antigua and Barbuda and Tuvalu announced the establishment of a Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, charting a legal path for examining the ‘polluter pays’ principle to loss and damage finance from fossil fuel companies, which they would be prepared to raise in other international forums beyond the UNFCCC, if COP26 fails to deliver a meaningful way forward on addressing loss and damage support needs.
- Speeches from Kenyan environment and climate activist, Elizabeth Wathuti, and Sudanese climate activist, Nisreen Elsaim - speaking on behalf of the 47% of the global population aged between 15 and 29 - stood out, with clear calls for leaders to show courage and political will in the next two weeks.
Mitigation
- India committed to net zero by 2070 and provided further details around its 2030 targets (increasing renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes from business as usual). It is the first time the world’s third biggest polluter has set such a target, whose details are still unknown, but would be aligned with 2°C if it covers only CO2 emissions, and with 1.5°C if it covers all greenhouse gases, according to the IPCC. Experts assessed it as a positive and realistic commitment.
- The United States published its long-term strategy that sets out strong interim targets and positively incorporates non-state actors, particularly the US subnational governments.
- 2050 net-zero commitments were announced by Israel, Vietnam and Thailand, 2045 by Nepal, with Sweden outlining an intention to be fossil-fuel free by 2055. Japan, Australia and China revised their long-term strategies to reflect their net-zero pledges.
- Brazil ostensibly committed to a reduction of 50% by 2030, though without further details on baselines and metrics. Experts are concerned the target has the potential to return to an amount equivalent to the original 2015 NDC, representing no enhancement at all.
- A range of fossil fuel phase out commitments were made, including: Canada reaffirming its oil and gas emissions cap; Israel committing to phase out coal by 2025; Mauritius committing to phase out coal in electricity before 2030; Poland pledging to close coal furnaces; Kazakhstan to reduce the share of energy generation by coal from 70% to 40%; and Germany highlighting the Just Energy Transition Partnership (UK-US-France-Germany) supporting South Africa’s energy transition.
Adaptation
- The United States and Canada became first-time contributors to the Adaptation Fund, though announcements lacked concrete numbers, whilst Switzerland pledged US $11 million and Spain pledged US $30 million for 2022.
Finance
- Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, called for US $500 billion per year in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) - an international reserve asset, created by the IMF - for 20 years to fund a climate transition trust.
- Spain announced its intent to reallocate 20% of its SDRs to vulnerable countries (which is a minimum of €350 million) and a 50% increase in climate finance. Switzerland committed a further US $55 million, and France called for donors to contribute their fair share to the US $100 billion by the end of COP.
Negotiations
- Negotiations began with deliberations on finance, carbon markets, transparency and common timeframes. The Parties are starting to draft the concrete rulebook on how to collaborate and collectively implement the objectives of the Paris Agreement. This ‘Paris rulebook’ is encapsulated in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which outlines cooperative mechanisms among Parties toward emission reduction.
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What did cities do in Glasgow today?
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- C40 Chair and Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, was the only mayor invited to speak at the World Leaders’ Summit. In his powerful speech, he highlighted the success of the Cities Race to Zero campaign. Led by C40 Cities, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCOM), ICLEI, UCLG, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Cities Race to Zero is a key component of the UN Race to Zero campaign. The goal of Cities Race to Zero is to rally climate leadership and provide a formal mechanism for cities and non-state actors to set official climate targets alongside national governments.
- Since its launch in November 2020, Cities Race to Zero has amassed a global coalition of 1,049 cities and local governments across 76 countries, representing 722 million people, that are committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 and slashing their fair share of emissions to ensure global emissions are halved by 2030. Signatory cities have also pledged to immediately deliver at least one inclusive and equitable climate action and report progress annually. Cities are the biggest group of governments committed to keeping global heating to 1.5°C and their collective action has the potential to reduce global emissions by at least 1.4 gigatons by 2030, the equivalent of the emissions output of the fifth biggest economy of the world.
- The C40 train arrived in Glasgow from London with a group of 12 mayors ready to showcase ambitious city climate action at COP26. Several of them contributed to the C40 Steering Committee meeting where leading UK scientist, David King, founder and Chair of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, shared ideas with the mayors on how to build a post-Glasgow strategy.
- For more info on LGMA activity in Glasgow, please visit www.cities-and-regions.org (in partnership with ICLEI).
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Other announcements/updates?
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- First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, pledged £1 million to help
developing countries deal with loss and damage, leading the way for other developed countries to increase dedicated financing for loss and damage.
- The UN Secretary-General announced the establishment of a Group of Experts to propose clear standards to measure and analyse net-zero commitments from non-state actors. This is a crucial step to building transparency and accountability as part of the whole-of-society approach to the climate emergency.
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- The World Leaders Summit continues for its second day, with speeches expected from Japan, Argentina, Norway, Ghana, Nigeria, St. Lucia, Dominica, The Bahamas, and Rwanda, as well as highly expected pledges on deforestation and methane reduction.
- C40 will host its flagship in-person and virtual event, Our Last, Big Chance: Why our future depends on action taken today in the world’s cities from 09:45am - 12:00pm GMT at Glasgow City Chambers. The event will feature mayors and thought leaders from around the world discussing how we can achieve a sustainable and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, advancing C40’s vision of a just and green future where all can thrive.
- This event will also showcase DK2020, a programme led by Realdania that builds on C40’s Deadline 2020 initiative, to scale up climate action planning in all cities - large and small - in Denmark. The success of this programme could provide inspiration to other countries and municipalities in developing a similar model.
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