Green Party sets out five tests for COP26 agreement

12 November 2021

The Green Party has highlighted five key tests the COP26 agreement must pass to be considered a success, as the global climate conference nears its close. 

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: 

“The latest draft of the agreement we’ve seen just doesn’t match up with the level of ambition needed to tackle the climate crisis. [1]

“Our five tests are in the spirit of the global communities that are in Glasgow to demand that leaders protect our future, and that’s why we’ve laid out these tests – so that we can clearly see whether the final version goes far enough.

“There is still time and we’re urging negotiators to use the final hours to push for the necessary action the world is crying out for.”

The Green Party’s 5 tests for the COP26 agreement are:

  1. Offsetting should be outlawed as part of the measurement of net zero reporting from governments and industries. It should not be possible to offload the heavy lifting of CO2 reductions onto other countries or to gain ‘carbon credit’ via initiatives like tree planting as an alternative to real cuts in emissions. [2]
  2. Loss and damage must be front and centre of any agreement with increases in aid to countries on the frontline of climate crisis impact, and cash transfers in the form of grants rather than loans for countries that are already over-burdened with debt.
  3. The core demand to accelerate the phase out of fossil fuels must remain in the agreement and the language around this must be clear and unambiguous, relating to all forms of fossil fuel, not just coal. Vague text around abatement and efficiency must be replaced with clear commitments to rapidly eliminate fossil fuels.
  4. Each country should commit to a system of carbon pricing to ensure the most polluting industries not only pay for the impact of their emissions, but are also incentivised to find efficient means of reducing them. [3]
  5. The weak progress achieved at this COP means that we must intensify future progress checking on nationally determined contributions. All countries must produce scientifically verifiable plans every year in order to show their progress in reaching the targets they have set themselves to achieve the global aim of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees.

ENDS

Notes

1

https://unfccc.int/documents/310983

2

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/opinion/emissions-net-zero-cop26-climate-crisis-b1955749.html

3

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2021/10/13/greens-call-on-government-to-bring-in-carbon-tax-at-cop26/

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