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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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- Tuesday wrapped up the World Leaders’ Summit, with leaders from the Climate Vulnerable Forum and High Ambition Coalition making statements that put political pressure behind a Glasgow package that delivers more action across mitigation, finance, adaptation, and loss and damage. These statements have injected a fresh sense of momentum as world leaders depart Glasgow and now hand the baton over to ministers and negotiators.
Mitigation
- President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria announced the country would commit to net-zero by 2060, ten years ahead of India, although details remain to be seen as this target is not included in the country’s NDC or long-term strategy.
Adaptation
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom announced a new initiative, Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States (IRIS), which is a new fund that will support small island states as part of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). IRIS will support the development of resilient, sustainable infrastructure that can withstand climate shocks, protecting lives and livelihoods. The UK announced it will contribute an initial GBP £10 million from its existing climate finance commitments to the fund.
Finance
- Japan made a US $10 billion climate finance pledge (in addition from a previous US $60 billion pledge for 2021-2025), and committed to double its assistance for disaster risk reduction to US $14.8 billion.
- Ireland committed to double its contribution to developing countries to deliver more than US $225 million per year by 2025
- Norway committed to at least triple its adaptation finance and double its climate finance commitment to US $1.6 billion by 2026.
- US, UK and EU leaders showcased their intention to align their respective infrastructure investment initiatives (the G7 Build Back Better for the World, UK Clean Green Initiative, and the EU Global Gateway) by aligning around five principles for a “new paradigm of climate finance” to mobilise trillions in public and private high-quality infrastructure investment for the 1.5°C climate transition. The exact scale of finance they plan to collectively mobilise remains unclear.
Negotiations
- Having heard from numerous Parties, the UK COP Presidency has concluded it would be appropriate to undertake initial informal consultations to hear Parties’ expectations about how to deliver key parts of the Paris Agreement. The UK Presidency published an outline of its presidency-led consultations, which in addition to identifying common issues of consultation (rules of procedure, election of officers, future sessions etc.), outlines an ambitious consultation schedule on substantive issues related to loss and damage, finance, ambition, and the special needs and circumstances of Africa.
- Developed countries have expressed preference for an informal process for establishing the new post-2025 finance goal, whereas developing countries are seeking a mandated formal work programme.
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What did cities do in Glasgow today?
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- C40 Chair and Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti announced the successful delivery of the UN-backed Cities Race to Zero campaign and officially handed the chairmanship of C40 to Chair-Elect Mayor Sadiq Khan of London. C40 celebrated the legacy of Mayor Garcetti’s chairship, who, as C40 Chair, spearheaded his vision for a Global Green New Deal that aims to place inclusive climate action at the centre of all urban decision-making, to create healthy, equitable, accessible, liveable, and sustainable cities for all.
- In his first speech as C40 Chair-Elect, Mayor Khan committed to align C40’s budget and staffing behind efforts to tackle air pollution worldwide based on his flagship air quality monitoring programme Breathe London.
- He also announced his plans to dedicate two thirds of C40’s budget to support climate action and green recovery efforts in Global South cities, who are experiencing the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
- Mayor Khan also announced an expansion of C40’s Global Green New Deal programme, which will direct additional funding to increase the number of cities working in partnership with trade unions, young people, and community organisations, to ensure climate action benefits everyone.
- The C40 Clean Energy Declaration was announced as one of the key initiatives of the Power Glasgow Breakthrough (see details below), an initiative launched by the Prime Minister of the UK and backed by over 40 countries, to deliver clean and affordable technology everywhere by 2030.
- 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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- Over 100 countries, accounting for more than 86% of the world’s forests, formally recognised nature's critical role in keeping 1.5°C within reach, by signing the Glasgow Declaration on Forests and Land Use, committing to work together to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.
- 12 donor countries pledged to provide US $12 billion of public climate finance from 2021 to 2025 to a new Global Forest Finance Pledge, which will support action in the Global South, including restoring degraded land, tackling wildfires, and advancing and protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
- In addition, 12 country and philanthropic donors pledged at least US $1.5 billion to protect the forests of the Congo basin, home to the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world and a habitat critically important to global efforts in addressing climate change. The funds will also promote and support sustainable development in the region.
- 14 country and philanthropic donors also pledged at least US $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.
- CEOs from more than 30 financial institutions with US $8.7 trillion in assets have committed to eliminate investment in activities linked to agricultural commodity driven deforestation.
- The Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition exceeded its target of mobilising US $1 billion in public-private commitments. This finance will be provided to tropical and subtropical countries that successfully reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation. Private finance will be provided only by companies already committed to deep emission cuts in their own supply chains, in line with science-based targets.
- Nine Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) launched a Joint Statement on Nature, People, and Planet outlining how they will mainstream nature into policies, analysis, assessments, advice, investments and operations, and make them ‘nature positive.’
- Officially launched at the UN General Assembly in September by the European Union and the US, the Global Methane Pledge now has 105 signatories committing to cut methane emissions by 30% over 2020 levels by 2030. The pledge has yet to be signed by major methane emitters such as India, China, Russia, and Australia.
- The UK, US, EU, France, and Germany committed US $8.5 billion to the International Just Energy Transition Partnership to accelerate the just transition in South Africa and help it shift from fossil fuel reliance to renewables, setting a good precedent for other countries to transition from coal to clean energy.
- The Global Alliance for People and Planet was formally launched, aiming to raise US $100 billion to provide 1 billion people in Asia, Africa, and Latin America with renewable energy. Funded by a mix of foundations and multilateral development banks (MDBs), this alliance will deliver initial projects in Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Colombia, and Haiti.
- Glasgow Breakthroughs: Five ‘Breakthroughs’ were announced (initially four were planned, but agriculture was a last-minute addition). The full list of participants for each breakthrough is available here, and each breakthrough has a combination of signatories from governments and non-state actors. These include:
- Power: Aim to make clean power the most affordable and reliable option for all countries to meet their power needs efficiently by 2030.
- Road Transport: Aim for zero-emission vehicles to be the new normal, and accessible, affordable, and sustainable in all regions by 2030.
- Steel: Aim to make ‘near zero emission’ steel the preferred choice in global markets, with efficient use and near zero emission steel production established and growing in every region by 2030.
- Hydrogen: Aim to make affordable ‘renewable and low carbon’ hydrogen globally available by 2030.
- Agriculture: Aim to make climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture the most attractive and widely-adopted option for farmers everywhere by 2030.
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- In partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and C40, Mayors were invited to have breakfast this morning with renowned architect, Lord Norman Foster, and the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. During breakfast, they discussed what cities need from an environmental and spatial planning standpoint to reduce emissions and become climate-resilient cities in the face of COVID-19, as well as how politics and diplomacy can foster and accelerate this transformation. The session can be watched in reply here.
- On behalf of the Cities Race to Zero partner organizations (CDP, GCoM, ICLEI, UCLG, WWF, and WRI), C40 will host a landmark event, Cities Race to Zero: Driving Ambitious Climate Action to Half Emissions by 2030 and Deliver a Green and Just Recovery from COVID-19. The event will celebrate over 1,000 cities joining Cities Race to Zero and will examine how cities’ commitments to keep global warming to 1.5°C can spur national ambition. It will also serve as a finance roundtable during which mayors and top representatives of financial institutions will discuss cities’ financial needs in the context of recovery from COVID-19. The session can be accessed here.
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