INTHEBLACK February 2022 - Magazine - Page 23
Above: Extinction
Rebellion activists
holding a “funeral” for
COP26 in Glasgow, in
November 2021.
Top right: A delegate
addresses the gathering
on day 12 of the COP26
conference, which focused
on advancing climate
action in communities,
cities and regions.
the issue of double counting,” she says. “However,
more must be done, especially for voluntary markets
and private projects.
“It’s important to stress that we don’t yet have
a true international carbon market.”
COAL CONTROVERSY
The statement on coal is another standout from the
Glasgow conference, with far-reaching implications
for the Asia-Pacific region.
The Pact calls on countries to accelerate efforts to
phase down unabated coal-fired power generation
and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. This has enormous
symbolic importance, because this is the first time coal
has been mentioned in official climate discussions
going back to 1992.
The last-minute wording change from the strong
“phase out” coal to the watered down “phase down”
Above: Delegates
conducting
preliminary rounds
of negotiation before
the start of the COP26
conference.
coal disappointed many delegates, but the real
problem lies elsewhere, says Professor Mahendhiran
Nair FCPA from Sunway University Malaysia.
“I think developing countries do need time to
transition from coal and fossil fuels, but hard annual
targets – dates and percentages – are necessary for
that transition, so that governments can say, ‘These are
the targets you need to achieve annually’, as opposed
to maximising the reduction towards the end of the
period,” he says.
Nair also predicts that developing countries
will become increasingly explicit about tying their
emissions ambitions to the amount of transition
finance and technology they receive from developed
nations. They may also seek to play Mainland China
off against the US and the EU, as all three world
powers vie to achieve dominance in transition
technologies in the developing world.
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