Climate Ambition Summit - 12th Dec 2020
On 12 December 2020, world leaders were brought together for a virtual Climate Ambition Summit by the joint efforts of the United Nations, UK and France (taking a short break from the fraught negotiations over Brexit and the Future Trade Agreement, if any), Italy and Chile.
United Nations
Proceedings were opened by a spirited speech from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres,
who reminded those attending that “Five years after Paris we are still not going in the right direction”. He noted that 38 countries had declared a climate emergency, and called upon all other countries to do so. He said that it was unacceptable that in their recovery plans, countries were still spending 50% more on fossil fuel linked investments that renewables. Secretary General Guterres speaks to the world’s conscience on climate and is probably in a position to say things without creating a direct bilateral political reaction.
EU
In a significant and substantive intervention, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the hard-won formal commitment of the European Union to 55% reductions in greenhouse gases by 2030:
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_20_2403
As President von der Leyen put it, “55% - That is now indeed Europe’s calling card”, and this is especially the case as it will be backed up by detailed plans for implementation. Some 30% of the Euros 1.8 trillion budget for the EU is to be spent on climate-related measures.
China
President Xi Jinping repeated his recent commitment to aim to peak CO2 emissions before 2030, and to achieve carbon neutrality in China by 2060. As China is responsible for 28% of global CO2, the detail of its policies is of immense significance, and next year’s Five Year Energy Plan will be closely watched to see whether the shift towards renewables reflected by moves away from coal fired power generation, in China itself and in its investment plans around the world. President Xi also made other announcements about targets for achieving significantly lower CO2 emissions per unit of CO2.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/12/c_139584803.htm
USA
The USA federal government was absent from the summit because of the Trump Administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement with effect from 4 December 2020, but the policies that the incoming Biden administration and Climate Secretary John Kerry are able to put in place after 20 January 2021 will be one of the key components towards making COP26 a meaningful success.
In the absence of the federal government the Governors of Michigan and Massachusetts made statements. They are both members of the US Climate Alliance, 25 states that have continued to work towards the goals of the Paris Agreement despite the unwillingness of the outgoing Trump administration.
India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an account of India’s impressive investments in renewable energy, did not discuss its proposals for 41 coal fired power projects, and “kept his powder dry” for future negotiations by stating that by 2047 “Centennial India will not only meet targets but will exceed your expectations”.
Other Countries
The statements and commitments by other countries represented at the Summit are summarised in this press release from the UNFCC.
UK
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at the end of an intensely pressured week of trade negotiations with the EU, nevertheless reiterated the UK’s commitment to addressing climate change effectively, not just for environmental reasons but also for economic ones. With the incoming Presidency of COP26, the UK has sought, in its first Nationally Determined Contribution or NDC as a separate country from the EU, to set an example and to lead from the front, and it announced that it would set a target of 68% greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030. The statement of the UK’s NDC is here:
The detailed advice to the UK and devolved governments from the Committee on Climate Change on how this target will need to be met and the major changes required in many aspects of the way we live from transport, home heating to agricultural land use, are summarised in its new Report on the Sixth Carbon Budget here.
We will be looking in more detail in future blogs at the prescriptions of the UK’s Committee on Climate Change in its Sixth Carbon Budget Report, and comparing this practical roadmap with examples from other jurisdictions.
COP26 President-elect Alok Sharma
In his concluding remarks at the Summit, President-elect of COP26 Alok Sharma gave a frank summary, saying -
"Have we made any real progress at this summit? And the answer to that is: yes,"…
"But they will also ask, have we done enough to put the world on track to limit warming to 1.5C, and protect people and nature from the effects of climate change? To make the Paris Agreement a reality.
"Friends, we must be honest with ourselves, the answer to that, is currently: no. As encouraging as all this ambition is. It is not enough."
Response to the Climate Ambition Summit by youth delegates to the MOCK COP
Echoing the way that Alok Sharma summarised the Climate Action Summit, youth delegates to the MOCK COP that was held between 19 November and 1 December 2020 issued their own statement to world leaders - https://www.mockcop.org/climate-ambition-summit/
This stated that although the commitments given at the Summit constitute definite progress, they fall a long way short of what the 330 delegates from 140 countries are calling for, and they requested that national delegations to COP26 meet with the MOCK COP delegates from their own countries to hear about youth climate concerns at first hand.
It is worth noting that as of 1st December 2020, only two countries had deposited their second NDC with the UNFCCC Secretariat under the Paris Agreement. This Summit prompted action by others, and by the end of 2020 the UNFCCC estimates that some 50 countries may have done so, which leaves the remaining Parties to the Paris Agreement as not having yet met their existing commitments on NDCs, and detailed commitments to meet fundamental parts of the Paris Agreement such as financial transfers have been deferred. There is less than a year to go before COP26 in Glasgow, and a lot remains to be done in 2021.