November 13, 2021
SCOTLAND – In Glasgow, the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) failed. It failed to recognize the urgency of the accelerating climate crisis; failed to deliver critically needed finance to the Global South; failed to close massive loopholes in a looming carbon market that is itself a loophole; failed to confront the fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis; and failed to meet the moment that the world must urgently meet to stave off impending climate chaos. It is no coincidence that this was the most exclusive COP in decades, with unprecedented hurdles to participation by those from countries most affected by the climate crisis and restrictions on access for civil society and Indigenous peoples, but outsized presence and influence by the fossil fuel industry.
Francesca Mingrone, CIEL Attorney
“The UNFCCC and the COP26 UK Presidency had two years to plan for what they promised would be the ‘most inclusive COP ever,’ and instead, they delivered on an event that has been exclusionary from the start. Rather than overcome the challenges of vaccine apartheid, entire delegations from climate-vulnerable regions’ could not attend and civil society and Indigenous Peoples groups were physically and digitally shut out. Their presence was replaced by fossil fuel lobbyists, their trade associations, and delegates unwilling to summon the courage to rise to the challenges demanded by the climate emergency. With that backdrop, the grossly inadequate outcome of COP26 makes more sense.”
Sébastien Duyck, CIEL Senior Attorney and Human Rights & Climate Campaign Manager
“COP26 showed that the UNFCCC is wildly out of step with what is needed to rise to the threat posed by the climate emergency. While the Presidency, Delegates, and Negotiators make statements calling for bold climate action, the resulting policy does no such thing. With climate impacts ever more severe across the planet, it is unacceptable that the main outcome on loss and damage is just another dialogue. More speeches don’t help those communities in the frontlines. There is no more time for talk. Communities are disappearing and people are dying in real-time. Leaders must summon the courage to make hard decisions and act now.
Lien Vandamme, CIEL Senior Campaigner
“The countries most responsible for the climate crisis owe those least responsible and most impacted significant finance and support including for loss and damage. The scale and the pace of the worsening climate emergency show that this is not a future problem, but a now problem. The final decision shows that political leaders are willing to choose yet another dialogue over vulnerable countries’ proposal for a real finance package is morally reprehensible. Coupled with a weak deal on Article 6 and inadequate attempts to address fossil fuels, the decisions made over the last two weeks will inevitably lead to more climate harm and compromise human rights. COP26 started by holding up stories of climate-vulnerable communities with commitments to help, but it has ended failing every one of them.”
Erika Lennon, CIEL Senior Attorney
“The loopholes in Article 6 engineered in Glasgow risk undermining real climate action with offsets that do nothing to enhance ambition to keep temperature rise below 1.5°C. They will only serve to intensify the climate emergency, posing a significant threat to the enjoyment of human rights. While incorporating critical references to upholding human rights including the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the actual rules, the agreement fails to fully respect international human rights standards, including Indigenous Peoples’ right to free, prior and informed consent; allows for risky carryover of junk credits from the failed Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); and opens loopholes for unauthorized credits to flood in — including a surge of new credits based on false climate solutions.”
Carroll Muffett, CIEL President & CEO
“More than 30 years after climate negotiations began, Parties to the UNFCCC finally found the courage to name the fossil fuels that drive the climate crisis, but not the courage to confront them—proving yet again that the fossil fuel industry’s declining prospects in the broader world haven’t weakened its stranglehold on COP26. A full day after the talks were set to end, the Parties have agreed an outcome that embraces false solutions, offers tepid half-measures on coal and subsidies, then distorts the meaning of just transition to weaken even those half measures further. The result is a global climate agreement increasingly and dangerously out of step with climate science and with a global energy transition that is rapidly — and necessarily — accelerating. The UK Presidency’s failure to deliver real results on fossil fuels will not stop that transition, but it is nothing to be celebrated. As Greta would say: ‘Blah, Blah, Blah.’”
Nikki Reisch, CIEL Director of Climate and Energy
“The failure of COP26 will not deter the global movement for climate justice, nor slow the legal and financial momentum for a just transition to a fossil-free future. That the mere mention of fossil fuels—the primary driver of climate change—marks a breakthrough in nearly 30 years of global climate talks is itself an indictment of the disconnect between the politics that play out in these halls and the reality experienced in the streets and on the frontlines. But it’s also an indication of the mounting pressure to accelerate the inevitable and necessary end of the fossil fuel era. The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance announced in Glasgow and the growing endorsements of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative are a sign of where things are headed and must go, if we are to avoid climate catastrophe. The fossil fuel era is ending. If global leaders can’t summon the courage to help make that happen, then the people will.
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Media contact: Cate Bonacini, press(at)ciel.org, +1-202-742-5847