Thoughts on COP26

Here we are less than a week away from the big event in Glasgow and, to me at least, the signs are not looking great.  Expectations for this event were always likely to exceed the outcome.  The Paris Agreement was essentially about optimism and rhetoric at no cost, whereas CoP26 involves hard pledges of action, which will require leaders to act in ways which may be perceived as contrary to their narrow and short term national interests, and may lead to competitive disadvantages.  As at the time of writing the big issues seem to be the very large funding subsidy required from the well-off nations to the developing world, and the attitude of China, and to a slightly lesser extent India.  It seems unlikely – though I hope I'm wrong – that temperature rises will be held at a safe level, and the issue is really salvaging something to provide hope for the future.

What should be the UK's response?  In my view, much more is required of the government, on many fronts. I mention three.

You can read Stephen Tromans' full post on our Energy & Environment Hub here.