Hannah Mckay via Reuters
COP26 – After the conclusion of an agreement this Saturday, November 13 at the Cop26 in Glasgow, the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg lamented that the conference had come down to “blah, blah, blah”, repeating accusations it had already leveled at world leaders.
“The real work continues outside of these rooms. And we will never, ever give up, ”the iconic figure of the Fridays for Future movement said on Twitter, at the end of the world climate conference.
A few days earlier, the activist had warned that an agreement described as “’small steps in the right direction’, ‘making some progress’ or ‘gradually winning’ is equivalent to losing”.
Asked by AFP in mid-October, Greta Thunberg already feared that, despite its “crucial” nature for the future of the planet, the Cop26 does not make “big changes”.
“The climate catastrophe is always knocking on the door”
Adopted at the end of two weeks of laborious negotiations by the 200 countries of the Cop26, the “Glasgow Pact for the climate” aims to accelerate the fight against global warming, without ensuring to contain it to 1.5 ° C nor respond to requests for assistance from poor countries.
“There is still a lot to do in the years to come,” the British Prime Minister told him. Boris Johnson. “But today’s deal is a big step forward, and what is important is that we have the first ever international agreement to reduce the use of coal and a plan to limit the use of coal. global warming 1.5 degrees ”higher than in the pre-industrial era, he added.
“The climate catastrophe is still knocking on the door,” warned UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The world climate conference resulted in “welcome steps forward, but it is not enough”, said the head of the United Nations in a statement.
Listing the objectives “that we did not achieve during this conference”, he mentions in particular “the end of fossil fuel subsidies, the exit from coal, putting a price on carbon” and financial aid to the most vulnerable countries. poor.
“The texts adopted are a compromise. They reflect the interests, the situation, the contradictions and the state of the current political will in the world. (…) Unfortunately the collective political will was not sufficient to overcome deep contradictions ”, he writes.
“It is time to go into ’emergency’ mode”, he continues, noting that the current emission reduction commitments do not allow to keep the objective of the Paris agreement to contain global warming “well below ”Of 2 ° C compared to the pre-industrial era, and even less the ideal target of + 1.5 ° C.
“It’s soft, it’s weak”
“It’s soft, it’s weak, and the 1.5 ° C target is barely alive, but there is a signal that the Coal Age is over. And that’s important ”, also commented Jennifer Morgan, boss of Greenpeace International.
“This is an insult to the millions of people whose lives are being ravaged by the climate crisis,” said Teresa Anderson of the NGO ActionAid International.
The European Commission, for its part, estimated that the Glasgow Pact had “kept the objectives of the Paris agreement alive, by giving us the chance to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C”.
“We have made progress in achieving the three objectives that we set ourselves at the start of Cop26,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, quoted in a press release. “It makes us confident that we can provide humanity with a safe and prosperous space on this planet. But there will be no time to waste: hard work still awaits us ”.
Jean-François Julliard, director general of Greenpeace France, Clément Sénéchal, climate spokesperson for Greenpeace France and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France insoumise, also reacted, as you can read on the tweets below.
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