Cop26: Compromise in the face of calamity

We are still miles off the limits set in Paris to avoid ‘catastrophic’ climate change, writes Kate Hughes

Friday 12 November 2021 07:00 GMT
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<p>Ocean Rebellion activists stage a protest  in Glasgow against deep sea fishing</p>

Ocean Rebellion activists stage a protest in Glasgow against deep sea fishing

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This, we were reminded endlessly in the weeks leading up to the UN climate conference in Glasgow, was our last chance.

The build-up to Cop26, against a backdrop of increasingly extreme weather and barely a whisper on the subject at the G20 meeting that preceded it, was gloomy, bordering on fatalistic.

Even before it started, and in the face of multiple unmistakable warnings of imminent and widespread environmental collapse, the Glasgow meeting was written off as hopeless, pointless and scarily weak on both the delivery of previous commitments and a consensus over the need for new, stronger ones.

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