During the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK), which started on 31 October, member countries unveiled a series of pledges on climate action. Here is a summary of some of the important pledges:
Joint Statement by the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)
In a joint statement, multinational development banks (MDBs) reiterated their commitment “to meaningfully engage with traditional and indigenous communities as experts in protecting and managing biodiversity and natural resources, while respecting their rights to their lands, culture and spirituality.”
They also pledged to support client countries and the private sector in tackling the “interconnected challenges” of “sustainable development, climate change and nature loss” and to achieve goals set by the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity.”
One Sun Declaration: Green Grids Initiative
The vision of the One Sun initiative includes setting up “a global ecosystem of interconnected renewables that are shared for...global sustainability.” It aims to combine this “with expanded and modernised national and regional grids” and the “rapid scale-up of mini-grids and off-grid solar solutions.”
Interested governments will work with regulators, financiers, institutions, companies, legislators, and researchers to come up with “a common global framework” to support efforts on “investing in solar, wind, storage and other renewable energy generation in locations endowed with renewable resources for supporting a global grid” and creating “innovative financial instruments” and “market structures.”
Members of the One Sun One World One Grid Steering Committee include Australia, France, India, the United States (US), and the UK. It was also endorsed by 78 other countries.
Global Forest Finance Pledge
A number of participating countries announced their intention to collectively provide $12 billion for forest-related climate finance between 2021-2025. The fund will be dedicated to “protecting, restoring, and sustainably managing forests” in order to protect “people and livelihoods, preserving critical ecosystems, and halting and reversing biodiversity loss.”
Importantly, the pledge’s activities will promote the “effective” and “willing participation” of Indigenous Peoples and local communities “in programmes that protect and restore forests, reduce deforestation and forest degradation, and ensure that benefits reach smallholders and local communities.”
The fund is expected to “incentivise results and support action” in Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible forest countries where “concrete steps are shown towards ending deforestation by no later than 2030.”
Countries supporting the pledge include Canada, the European Commission on behalf of the European Union (EU), France, Japan Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, UK, and the United States of America.
COP26 World Leaders Summit- Statement on the Breakthrough Agenda
Participant countries launched the “Breakthrough Agenda” that comprised accelerating “the development and deployment of the clean technologies and sustainable solutions” in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The goals include making “clean technologies and sustainable solutions the most affordable, accessible and attractive option in each emitting sector globally before 2030.”
To accomplish this, members agreed to work together in “public-private collaboration and by mobilising finance at scale, to make the global transition to a clean economy faster, lower cost and easier for all.”
The agenda includes setting up infrastructure in all member countries for renewable and low carbon hydrogen, near-zero-emission steel production, zero-emission vehicles, and clean energy sources by 2030.
Among others, participating countries include Australia, China, Canada, EU, India, Japan, the US, and the UK.