Why the COP26 climate summit will be both crucial and disappointing
Such global gatherings remain the best forum to force change
“THE RAIN it raineth every day,” Feste tells the audience at the end of “Twelfth Night”. And the COP it COPpeth every year. Since 1995 the countries bound by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have missed only one conference of the parties—when the pandemic struck in 2020. These COPs can produce action plans (Bali, 2007), mandates (Berlin, 1995), protocols (Kyoto, 1997), platforms (Durban, 2011), acrimonious breakdowns (Copenhagen, 2009) and agreements (Paris, 2015). But the rise in the atmosphere’s greenhouse-gas content and the associated warming of the climate continues in spite of them—even when, as so often, they are hyped as the world’s last chance.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “COP-out”
From the October 30th 2021 edition
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