Is COP26 a 'failure?'

3 years ago

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November 8, 2021

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The October jobs report has good news and bad news for women, the House passes Biden’s infrastructure bill–with Build Back Better still to go, and young climate activists are pushing for change at COP26. Have a productive Monday.
– Call to action. For the past week, I’ve been reading my colleague Katherine Dunn’s coverage from COP26, the UN climate summit in Glasgow. Taking stock of the conference’s first week, Katherine writes that there’s been some progress—even if Greta Thunberg called the gathering a “failure.”
“Since we are so far from what actually we needed, I think what would be considered a success would be if people realize what a failure this COP is,” Thunberg said during a panel interview at the conference.
The 18-year-old climate activist is just one of the young female activists setting a high bar for the world leaders gathered in Scotland. As the NYT points out, the median age of a world leader at COP26 is over 60—and they’ve been meeting to discuss climate solutions since before many activists were born. The young cohort of activists who made the trip to Glasgow are pushing those leaders to do more and do better.
The two groups differ by more than their age. Most climate targets set at the summit agree to some sort of change by 2030, or even 2060 or 2070. Young activists say that’s far from enough. “Yesterday was the time,” activist Dominique Palmer told the Times.
But, Katherine notes, leaders at the summit have made some concessions, even if they’re far from what activists are calling for. India committed to a net zero target date for the first time ever, days after the country’s leaders rejected the idea of setting any domestic targets. For the first time, too, business has had a significant presence at a gathering like this. While climate activists would likely criticize business leaders for not doing enough to fix their corporations’ impact on the climate, it’s still a change from the 2015 Paris climate talks, when business “by invitation or by choice” didn’t have much of a voice at all.
Katherine will be back in Glasgow this week, reporting from the ground for Fortune.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
Correction: The Broadsheet on Friday misreported the candidates in an upcoming Atlanta mayoral runoff. Felicia Moore will compete against Andre Dickens later this month.
The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

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