The day the world stopped farting
Gabriel Moore, City of Norwich School
Tuesday 2nd November 2021
COP26 was today shamelessly booted from the undiscovered pages of UN reports to blazing frontpages across the world. It kicked off today with an agreement to curb global emissions of methane by 30%. Initiated by the US and the EU, the treaty has now been ratified by 103 nations, pledging to make the cut by 2030. The gas, widely known as the by-product of a cow’s digestion, is about 84 times more potent per unit mass than carbon dioxide. Despite this, methane emissions have been somewhat neglected in favour of cutting the more prominent greenhouse gas, CO2.
The agreement was announced in Glasgow, where COP26 is being held. The latest UN Climate Summit, it involves the world’s biggest powers working together to find a way of mitigating the effects of climate change. A multitude of announcements are expected over its two-week course, and a key one that’s already been revealed is a promise to end deforestation by 2030, a move which could help cut down on methane emissions.
Although three of the biggest polluters didn’t bother sending their leaders to Glasgow, Russia, and Brazil did find delegates. Brazil, led by populist Jair Bolsonaro, who has often been accused of disregarding the climate and speeding up destruction of the Amazon rainforest and Russia, whose taiga forest is suffering from one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world, both signed up to the deal. The first major announcement of COP26, it’s hoped it could signal the beginning of the end for placing short-term economic gain over ecosystem degradation, which ultimately thwarts economic growth in the long-term.
Elsewhere, Labour MP Fleur Anderson proposed a law banning plastic from wet wipes. Clogging up sewers and carpeting beaches, wet wipes pose a significant threat to biodiversity. 90% of them contain plastic, and are effectively single use, rendering them as environmentally degrading as plastic bags and straws. Yet introducing legislation is a low hanging fruit and could bring wide reaching benefits if enacted.
COP26 is the most crucial climate summit since Paris 2015, tasked with solving the defining issue facing planet Earth today. Many in my generation hope it’s the end of the school of thought that ecological catastrophe is an inevitable consequence of economic gain. Now is the time to find practical solutions to save the Paris Agreement, and ultimately, the earth.
Yet, it seems frustratingly naive and amateurish. Countless minor incidents, and an apparent lack of engagement, makes me question the whole COP26 process. Boris Johnson has been forced to apologise to an Israeli minister who couldn’t access the conference due to poor wheelchair access. There are many noticeable absences - China, India and Brazil’s leaders are all missing. China has refused to commit to a net zero carbon target by 2050, still trailing behind other developed nations. Meanwhile, you could also be forgiven for wondering whether the press have really grasped the magnitude of COP26. Probably the most newsworthy event (bar Coronavirus) of the year, it’s perceived an inferior front page by the Sun Newspaper, to the announcement of a new host of Good Morning Britain!
Some may reflect on today as the day potential was converted into progress. We’re swamped by a monsoon of corporate jargon, somewhere concealing binding commitments, and delegates at COP26 are making decisions so great they cannot be quantified in economic terms. From here on out, climate change can continue to run unabated, causing damage in many cases irrevocable – or it can be apprehended. We can unite not around the prospect of hopelessness and disaster, but the prospect of positive change. The fate of a generation awaits a verdict.