What will be the "Glasgow Effect"?

What will you do?

Nov 10, 2021

As the much-awaited 26th Conference of Parties for Climate Change (COP26) the UK comes to a close, I want to reflect on some of the questions and thoughts I am sitting with.

Reflections from first days of COP26

We know what the “Paris Effect” looks like, what will the “Glasgow Effect” be?

Despite the astonishing increase in emissions (even with a nasty pandemic that hindered life across the globe), the Paris Agreement has pushed businesses and governments to seek low-carbon solutions and strategize for decarbonization. The report “Paris Effect” launched by Systemiq at the end of 2020, predicted that these solutions could be competitive in sectors representing 70% of global emissions by 2030. So far, these solutions and decarbonization plans may have not halted the emissions in the way we would have hoped to stop climate change, but it has proliferated the decisions taken by investors, companies, and cities. Although the immediacy of this crisis requires a drastic approach, we have seen the “finance industry” arriving at the table (rather late) for investing in clean technologies, and divesting from old economy assets. So what will be the “Glasgow Effect”? The financial sector was at the core of the conversations at COP26, but will the decisions move the needle?

Put your money where your mouth is!

Here is an astonishing fact for you! Since the start of COP26 on October 31st, 2021, more than 163$ trillion subsidized the fossil fuel industry (Source: IMF). You can find out the exponentially growing number of fossil fuel subsidies here. If we truly want to stop climate change, this should change as soon as possible and as fast as possible by all governments, companies, individuals involved in this.

The good news is that the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (Gfanz), which consists of 450 banks and insurers, committed $130 trillion to tackle climate change until 2050. The critics of this move pointed out that most of this money was already invested in non-green investments, and how much of it would be allocated to climate-friendly initiatives. Last year banks invested more than $900 billion in the fossil fuel industry, and the biggest fossil fuel investors are on the Gfanz list. As COP President Alok Sharma said, “Glasgow must be the COP that consigns coal to history”.

True, but it is not enough because the fossil fuel industry consists of coal, gas, and oil sectors. While it is becoming very popular for countries to phase out coal, gas is taking the center stage as a seemingly innocent alternative. A new report by Climate Analytics revealed that natural gas was the largest source of fossil CO2 emissions in the decade 2010 to 2019, responsible for about 60% of methane emissions from fossil fuel production. And if not phased out, it will be responsible for 70% of CO2 emissions under current policies by 2030. We need more than pledges, we need concrete actions. As one of my heroes Slyvia Earle says, “Protect nature as if our lives depend on it because they do”.

I want to share this post on Linkedin posted by the VP of Global Business Environment at Shell because it is a great one that highlights the fact that we cannot see the symptoms that cause climate change in silos and that the system is too intertwined to detangle. We need systemic approaches to the most wicked problem of this era.

Our lives depend on food, but we aren’t talking about it enough

When it comes to climate change solutions, energy does play a big role. But so does food. According to a new study, farmland management and land-use change represented major shares of total emissions (38% and 29%, respectively). While food production is a major contributor to climate change, it is one industry severely impacted by unforeseen weather conditions. Our livelihood depends on food, yet we don’t put “food & agriculture” on the table at the center stage of all conversations. Nature’s systems are perfectly designed to capture carbon, to heal themselves, to ail an ill planet, and most importantly help us adapt to the impacts of climate change.

We are in the same storm but we are not in the same boat

How many times did you hear this during the pandemic? This holds true for the climate crisis, which embeds systemic inequalities and injustice where those who suffer most are not even part of the problem. We know that 122 Corporations account for 71% of greenhouse gas emissions globally and the richest 1% account for double the emissions of the poorest 50%. 80% of biodiversity is found within land managed by indigenous groups. This is why we are not in the same boat and why we need to prepare for “climate adaptation”. While no one is immune to climate change, it is imperative that we put systems in place for climate-vulnerable communities. Back in 2009, COP15 in Copenhagen was called “Hopenhagen” where $100 billion was committed for climate mitigation and adaptation to support developing nations. Sadly the commitments fell far short in terms of actual funds supplied. COP26 hopefully will hold governments accountable! (The young people do already!) As always, a picture speaks a thousand words:

Are we paving the way for change?

For those of us being exposed to climate change news about the future of humanity and the planet day in day out, there is a certain level of grief and pain that is hard to explain. Climate change seems like an abstract concept to many people. You can’t smell it (sometimes you can smell the air pollution), you can’t taste it, you can’t see it with your naked eye (for the majority of the time) in an instant, but it is all out there. We have been calling out the climate crisis through our words, blogs, work, shouting out loud till our lungs burst open, and many times we heard our voices echoing back, but this is now changing. Over the last couple of years, talking about climate change has become mainstream. Every job, every decision is about climate change now because let’s face it, our future depends on it.

Last Friday and Saturday, on the streets of Glasgow, and other cities, hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life, led by young people like Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Naketa, alongside indigenous people from across the globe “called governments to immediate action”. This is what change looks like. Inclusive, democratic, loud, peaceful, powerful, and intergenerational (among many other attributes). I heard a beautiful African proverb this week:

“The youth runs fast, but the elder knows the path”. We must pave the path for the young people, who are currently calling “actions….”. Actions by corporations, governments, public and private partnerships....It takes a global village to tackle this crisis. What will be the “Glasgow Effect”? What will be your effect?

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