As Climate Action Tracker has established, there is a “very big credibility gap” when it comes to net-zero policy. The new promises emanating from Glasgow would reduce this warming by just 0.1C.
GETTING COAL.OUT OF GROUND CAPITALISM II HOW TO
As Climate Action Tracker (CAT) reported during the conference: “The projected warming from current policies – not proposals, what countries are actually doing – is … at 2.7 ̊C with only a 0.2 ̊C improvement over the last year and nearly one degree above the net-zero announcements governments have made.”īill Hare, the chief executive of Climate Analytics, a CAT partner organization, has said: “It’s all very well for leaders to claim they have a net zero target, but if they have no plans as to how to get there, and their 2030 targets are as low as so many of them are, then frankly, these net zero targets are just lip service to real climate action.
The problem is, reducing fossil fuel exploitation involves a confrontation with the wealthiest, most entrenched monopoly corporations in human history.Īnd even on its own terms, the outcomes from the COP process over the last two weeks are catastrophic. The Glasgow conference, COP26, was the first deadline for presidents and prime ministers to hand in their Paris Agreement homework. Corporations continue to deliver profits for shareholders. Economic growth is maintained, or profit is delivered by the distribution of wealth from the poorest to the richest. Capital accumulation remains the logic of our economies. Thus, “copitalism” is designed to maintain the status quo except where specific economic activity drives us towards climate breakdown. The most obvious and effective means of reducing emissions is a limit or stop on the exploitation of coal, oil and gas. In order to deliver on the NDCs each country would have to use a combination of carrot – investment, incentives, tax cuts – and stick – regulation and taxation – to move capital away from fossil fuels and towards “green” technology and infrastructure. The COP process is also supposed to include a “ratchet mechanism” where those government commitments are made increasingly ambitious. This means national governments are responsible for submitting commitments to cut emissions to the UN. The mechanism agreed was “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs). The high-water mark was the Paris Agreement of COP21 when the worlds’ leaders agreed to limit global heating to 1.5C. The aim is to negotiate global emissions targets that will be translated into national policies. The climate conferences have taken place annually for a quarter of a century. The future was supposed to be copitalism: a new global economic paradigm where national governments work together through the United Nations (UN) Conference of the Parties (COP) process to limit emissions and prevent runaway climate breakdown – while leaving capitalism otherwise intact. Over 100,000 demonstrated in the streets of Glasgow.
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