Don’t Cry for Me, Alok Sharma

There is no doubt that the world has failed in addressing climate change. We have not prepared early and are scurrying around trying to find the kunji for the leaked question paper for the exam the next day. However, COP26 is not that failure…It was so apparent even before its start what the outcome would be, the only surprise is that it is being classified as news. Mr. Alok Sharma, President of COP26, was seen by much of the world shedding tears over what could have been but did not.  Many countries ‘vowed’ that they would be fairly aggressive in their approach to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade. When it came to specific commitments, each wanted to write a different story. Most critically, the developed world did not credibly commit to a specific amount that they would give to the rest of the world for their mitigation actions. Some of the developing world (it seems this is mostly India and China), did not commit to ending the use of coal. Those like me who did not have much hope for COP26 and other international environmental action fora are not disappointed. Others, mostly utopian dreamers, were left disappointed. The way forward does not end here, more than political commitments it is the techno-economic forces and building citizen pressure that will chart the environmental path ahead. Therefore, I maintain, delayed it will be, but action there will be.

Read more: https://tinyurl.com/cop26-unearth