Scandalous outcome to COP26 as 1.5° hangs by a thread

13 November 2021. Glasgow, UK

“The outcome of COP26 leaves developed countries free to keep polluting whilst giving the green light for massive land grabs for offsets in developing countries. The UK Presidency and their allies are patting themselves on the back but no deal at all would have been better.

It is nothing less than a scandal. Just saying the words 1.5 degrees is meaningless if there is nothing in the agreement to deliver it. COP26 will be remembered as a betrayal of global South countries – abandoned to the climate crisis with no money for the energy transition, adaptation or loss and damage.

Perhaps it is no surprise that this was the moment a deal was finally forced through on carbon markets – a free pass for rich countries reluctant to cut emissions. Many Southern delegates struggled to attend or make their voices heard, but fossil fuel corporations were present in force. This deal could mean a rise in global emissions and – combined with a weak commitment to ‘net zero’ by mid century and the inclusion of seductive sounding ‘nature-based-solutions’ (read massive tree planting in the global South) -will fuel a grabbing of Indigenous and developing countries’ land for carbon offsets, not to mention a rush for unproven technofixes.

The 150,000 people out on the streets for climate justice in Glasgow know the solutions to the climate crisis: a just transition to a world without fossil fuels and climate finance flowing from developed to developing countries. Disgracefully, rich countries opted instead for the Glasgow ‘get-out clause’ while hanging developing countries out to dry.”

Sara Shaw, Climate Justice and Energy programme co-coordinator, Friends of the Earth International

For press enquiries, contact:
Amelia Collins, press[at]foei.org
Sara Shaw, sara[at]foe.co.uk