Don't believe the greenwashing - the Tory government is a threat to our climate

Despite some of the understandable criticism, there are thousands of good people doing good work at COP26. Delegates from the Global South, representatives from NGOs like Christian Aid and even the negotiators from some Global North governments are truly trying to secure the best possible agreement.

Unfortunately, those genuinely committed Global North governments are in the minority amongst rich nations, and it’s the rich nations who dictate the outcome at COP – them and the 500 fossil fuel lobbyists also present.

According to the COP26 Coalition – which represents indigenous movements and vulnerable communities around the world – around two-thirds of those it was helping to travel to Glasgow had to give up due to a combination of visa and accreditation problems, a lack of access to Covid vaccines and unaffordable accommodation.

Some campaigners, including Friends of the Earth have branded it “the most exclusionary COP ever".

We know that countries in the Global South pollute far less than the wealthiest countries, but they are already facing the worst effects of climate breakdown. Their voices cannot be excluded or marginalised.

There have been some positive headline announcements, including funding for countries to transition away from coal, steps to end deforestation and US/China action on methane reduction.

But they do not go far enough and, as things stand, the overall package looks like too little too late.

Whatever is agreed, the key will be to ensure it is actually delivered. The 2009 COP conference committed to $100 billion of funding from the Global North to the South for adaptation and to mitigate the impact of climate breakdown, but less than a quarter of it has been delivered.

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This inaction is having devastating consequences. During the conference I spoke to Simeon Sawadogo, the environment minister of Burkina Faso. He told me about the impacts of climate breakdown in his country and the wider region, including increased floods in some regions, droughts in others and the loss of farmable land to the desert’s expansion.

Barack Obama struck a despondent note when he used his COP26 speech to claim that we must settle for “imperfect compromise.”

But there’s a huge difference between political compromise and failing to take the action that science says is required. The latter is a failure, not a compromise.

This is supported by new analysis from the Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific analysis website, that predicts commitments made during the summit will still lead to at least a 2.4 degrees temperature rise by 2100, which would mean a catastrophic level of global warming.

The fossil fuel companies may not have the huge exhibition stands and ominous billboard campaigns that they usually have, but their fingerprints and presence are still all over the conference. Their 500-plus lobbyists are larger than any single nation’s delegation.

The so-called solutions pitched by these snake-oil salesmen are focused on maintaining the status quo and delaying the actions required, all for the sake of defending their obscene profits. We cannot rely on polluters to lead us to a low-carbon future. The corporations that have contributed so much to the crisis are not the ones who are going to solve it.

The same goes for the governments who have allowed them to get away with so much destruction for so long. There has been no shortage of hot air from Downing Street. Boris Johnson called for COP to

be “a turning point for the world” and warned that it is one minute to midnight for the climate crisis. He’s right, but rather than lecturing the world he should be leading by example.

Only one week before COP, the Chancellor Rishi Suank announced one of the most anti-climate budgets in years.

With £21bn worth of spending on new roads, cuts to air passenger duty for domestic flights and a freeze on fuel duty, it took a wrecking ball to the UK’s climate commitments. With the prospect of a new oil field off Shetland and a new coal mine in Cumbria, it was yet another reminder that the Tories and the values that they represent are a clear and present danger to both people and planet.

As the official host the UK Government should be leading the calls for change, not derailing and undermining them. Even the most ambitious targets are completely meaningless when those setting them plan to burn even more fossil fuels and encourage more and more people to drive and fly.

The loudest voices in the room may be failing to rise to the urgency of the moment, but the movement of young people, indigenous communities and activists around the world has been truly inspiring. Around 100,000 people took to the streets of Glasgow to call for real and meaningful change. If they can recognise the scale of the challenge we face, their governments can too.

We will be judged as a species for centuries to come based on the actions we take this decade. Nobody will remember the warm words or the promises. What they will remember are the actions, or lack thereof, and their consequences.

Even at this late hour we can still turn things around. We can and we must win this struggle against climate catastrophe and those who have brought it about.