We reiterate that the commitments brought by countries, organizations, and institutions to the table are not enough to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. Announcements made during the conference, including new pledges to cut emissions this decade, are still estimated to result in a 2.4 degrees world.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge the progress made on several fronts, including (1) the inclusion of “fossil fuels” in the final COP26 text—the first appearance of the world despite it being the main cause of human-induced climate change; (2) the call to “phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies,” which sends a signal of the end of the fossil fuel era; (3) the call for the developed world to “at least double their collective provision of climate finance for adaptation” to developing countries; and (4) the effort to ratchet up global climate ambitions by urging big carbon polluting nations to submit stronger emission cutting pledges by the end of next year, instead of revisiting them in 2025 as required by the Paris Agreement.
For us in the Climate Reality Philippines, COP26 was “an incremental step forward” rather than the “monumental leap” needed to ensure a livable planet for all.
Thus, the fight continues. Our work on climate education, grassroots mobilization for climate solutions, and lobbying for systemic changes must and will intensify moving forward.
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The background image used in the banner was originally posted on Flickr by Insure Our Future. This photo was photographed by Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert and is under a Public Domain Mark 1.0 license.
