129. COP26: Glasgow Pact and Ready to Go Further

Explicit content warning

11/15/21 • 58 min

1 Listener

Yesterday, nearly 200 countries agreed to adopt The Glasgow Climate Pact after a roller coaster of a COP26...and this is a really big deal. From agreeing to reduce global dependence on coal, to speeding up the end of fossil fuel subsidies, this is progress on paper. But how far does it go to keep our 1.5C target front and center?

This week, our hosts dig through a few key details of the agreement, including the new commitment for every country to revisit and strengthen their emissions reductions plans together at COP27, instead of in 5 years time as previously required.

So let’s take a collective breath, get a good look at this thing, and find out where we go from here.

Stick around to the end for a special “Pass The Mic” segment we are sharing, which highlights some of the voices we heard around the corridors and in the streets of Glasgow during COP26.

—

Christiana + Tom’s book ‘The Future We Choose’ is available now!

Subscribe to our Climate Action Newsletter: Signals Amidst The Noise

—

COP26 - UN Climate Change Conference

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

—

Keep up with Christiana Figueres here:

Instagram | Twitter

Tom Rivett-Carnac:

Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn

Paul Dickinson is on LinkedIn!

—

Follow @GlobalOptimism on social media and send us a message!

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Don't forget to hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss another episode of Outrage + Optimism!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So let’s take a collective breath, get a good look at this thing, and find out where we go from here.

Stick around to the end for a special “Pass The Mic” segment we are sharing, which highlights some of the voices we heard around the corridors and in the streets of Glasgow during COP26.

—

Christiana + Tom’s book ‘The Future We Choose’ is available now!

Subscribe to our Climate Action Newsletter: Signals Amidst The Noise

—

COP26 - UN Climate Change Conference

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

—

Keep up with Christiana Figueres here:

Instagram | Twitter

Tom Rivett-Carnac:

Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn

Paul Dickinson is on LinkedIn!

—

Follow @GlobalOptimism on social media and send us a message!

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Don't forget to hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss another episode of Outrage + Optimism!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

128. COP26 Halfway Point: A City of Two Tales With Nigel Topping

It's the halfway point of the COP26 climate discussions in Glasgow, UK! Pledges over the past week from world leaders could be transformational, keeping the Paris Agreement's ambition in reach. The devil is in the detail of delivery and, As we head into the second week of the negotiations, government Ministers and negotiators get down to business, with final agreements due to land on Saturday this week. Momentum from the pledges of the past week reverberated around the world, yet the youth movement, alongside many of the most vulnerable nations showed how much further we have to go.

On this episode we take stock with a great friend of the show, the UK's High Level Climate Action Champion, Nigel Topping.

Start your week with our digest of what's happened and what needs to happen next.

—

Christiana + Tom’s book ‘The Future We Choose’ is available now!

Subscribe to our Climate Action Newsletter: Signals Amidst The Noise

—

WATCH: Livestream COP26 from anywhere

—

Nigel Topping High Level Climate Action Champion for COP26

Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

—

Race to Zero

Twitter | LinkedIn

COP26 - UN Climate Change Conference

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

—

Keep up with Christiana Figueres here:

Instagram | Twitter

Tom Rivett-Carnac:

Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn

Paul Dickinson is on LinkedIn!

—

Follow @GlobalOptimism on social media and send us a message!

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Don't forget to hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss another episode of Outrage + Optimism!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

130. Opening Hearts with Elizabeth Wathuti

With the ink still drying on The Glasgow Pact, we’re already hearing the results from Glasgow being labeled in binary terms like “Success” and “Failure” While we know that some stunning pledges and progressive language in the Pact came from some of the negotiations, it is also true that historically these pledges have not been met completely, or have been missed entirely. Full stop.

So with millions of humans suffering under the systemic injustice of rising global emissions, how do we meet this moment to reduce those global emissions and break those unjust systems of oppression? And how does the COP process make those necessary changes politically possible? And in the next eight years?!

Maybe it’s as simple as starting with silence.

This week we speak with Elizabeth Wathuti, environmentalist and climate activist from Kenya. She is the founder and president of Green Generation Initiative, and Head of Campaigns and Daima Consortium Coordinator for the Wangari Maathai Foundation.

Elizabeth brought the house down at COP26 this year with her speech in which she led a moment of silence followed by the urgency to every Head of State in the room to “ please open your hearts”. You won’t want to miss what she has to say to us on the show!

Stick around ‘til the end for an incredible music track from Knomad Spock!

Excerpt from Elizabeth Wathuti's speech at COP26, reproduced courtesy of the UN.

Excerpt from the Opening Ceremony of the World Leaders Summit at COP26, November 2021.

Available here: Elizabeth Wathuti at COP26 “Please Open Your Hearts” Speech

—

Christiana + Tom’s book ‘The Future We Choose’ is available now!

Subscribe to our Climate Action Newsletter: Signals Amidst The Noise

—

Mentioned links from the episode:

Read: Martin Wolf’s piece in The FT

Thank you to our guest this week, Elizabeth Wathuti!

Elizabeth Wathuti