As we approach the final hours of #COP26, it's worth asking what impact it'll have on the UK
Firstly, the UK has finally hosted one of these things, 32 years after then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s call for a UN climate treaty margaretthatcher.org/document/107817. The UK has always had an important role in the process but hosting this summit makes the connection more visceral…
…especially as it comes at a time when public concern on climate change and support for a zero-carbon transition have never been higher - that's true globally too btw theguardian.com/environment/20…
Broadcasters have been able to bring voices from all over the world into people’s living-rooms in a way that’s almost never possible, because those voices are here in the UK and this is a national event with global participation – the 2012 Olympics, but on climate change
With luck, this will have somewhat demystified and humanised the intimidating jargon of the UN process so that issues like Loss and Damage and climate finance acquire a human face – and with luck, that will endure
Among other things the huge volume of media coverage will have helped scotch myths that are still rather mystifyingly in circulation, such as that no other countries are reducing their emissions, or want to
In terms of Britain’s own transition to a zero-carbon economy, the outcome of #COP26 isn’t, I would argue, of crucial importance. The Climate Change Act, the #netzero target, the successive carbon budgets etc will stay just as they are
Evidence of climate impacts will continue to appear, public concern will remain high (and probably increase), and the clean energy economy will continue to accelerate simply by being cheaper than the fossil-fuelled version – and more popular
The EU and US are among other nations/blocs also on a 30-year journey to a #netzero economy – in the EU’s case, committed to bigger carbon cuts this decade than the UK – which will obviously bring down clean energy costs even more quickly, for everyone
As @EmilyGosden outlines in @TheTimes, UK businesses have found #COP26 a positive experience – exchanging knowledge and plans, making international connections, reaffirming and in some cases reshaping their commitments to decarbonisation thetimes.co.uk/article/8249b3…
The agreement here will contain clauses that could speed the global energy transition further, including by phasing out coal and fossil fuel subsidies faster …
…while some of the coalitions and pledges announced in Week One, however flawed in their presentation, will also accelerate the market shift from dirty to clean
This acceleration will of course affect the UK – every nation, actually – bringing costs down even faster, in turn forcing more and more fossil fuel suppliers to change their business models, and giving each government more confidence that it is unequivocally on a shared journey
And the faster and cheaper the zero-carbon transition proceeds, the more confidence that will build everywhere in its feasibility and advantages
Meanwhile, progress on some measures that don’t at first sight appear to affect the UK – support for the poorest nations on adaptation and Loss and Damage – will do two things that are significant
1. By reducing the economic damage of climate change impacts it will strengthen all economies and make them more resilient – which reduces the chances of unrest and conflict, and stabilises global supply chains
2. And it will accelerate decarbonisation in the poorest nations through financial support, further reducing climate impacts everywhere
Politically, an outcome that at least some observers hold to be a success will strengthen the pro-climate action majority in the @Conservative Party, including the PM - and I hope he acknowledges the many long months of hard yakka, and the smarts, of some stellar civil servants
But climate action isn’t a partisan issue in the UK – and all politicians who’ve put and kept it up the political agenda from whatever party have played a role both in the summit coming here and in securing the current society-wide consensus on decarbonisation
One aside is that Glasgow now has its name on an international agreement. In the footsteps of such as the Bali Roadmap, Copenhagen Accords, Durban Platform and Warsaw International Mechanism comes the Glasgow-Sharm el-Sheikh Work Programme on the Global Goal on Adaptation
Not the kind of goal that most Glaswegians will care most about, but there it is. I think most will leave the host city with good memories – overall, it’s made us feel very welcome, and that's good for the UK long-term too

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More from @_richardblack

13 Nov
THREAD - initial thoughts on the texts dropped this morning at #COP26 unfccc.int/sites/default/… and unfccc.int/sites/default/…
First thing is, not that much has changed since the previous drafts - science, 'urgency', 'concern', request of Parties for new NDCs in 2022, adaptation finance, all still in - and placeholders still for long-term finance and implementation
Few big ones. Coal and fossil fuel subsidies still in, but in an expanded paragraph that also talks of advancing clean energy transition
Read 14 tweets
12 Nov
New over-arching draft texts just out at #COP26 - unfccc.int/sites/default/… and unfccc.int/sites/default/…
More detailed analyses of everything will doubtless follow but on a quick take:
Serious language on the severity of climate impacts remains ('alarm'... 'impacts being felt in every region')
Read 13 tweets
8 Nov
THREAD: The UK government says it wants a successful #COP26. Great. But from the government’s position, the word ‘success’ has two distinct meanings
In one, #COP26 is a genuine success, making a meaningful contribution to tackling climate change. In the other, it isn’t a genuine success, but enough happens to allow Boris Johnson to claim that it is
Why flag this now? Because if Week 1 at #COP26 was about one thing, it was about news management. And there is doubtless a lot more to come
Read 25 tweets
30 Oct
Now #COP26 is upon us it's noticeable how many political journalists are writing and broadcasting about it, which (speaking as a former science and environment hack who spent many hours inside the BBC arguing for climate change coverage across the board) is very welcome
But... something is going slightly awry, and I want to highlight it now before the serious stuff begins
This is not the UK's summit, nor @BorisJohnson's summit. Leaders of other nations will not set climate policies according to what he asks them to do. The most important consequence of failure to make progress will not be Boris Johnson's reputation
Read 21 tweets
29 Oct
To Glasgow, today, for #COP26, with the floods in Cumbria bringing a distinct feeling of déjà vu...
Six years ago, just after the last massively important UN climate summit (in Paris) got underway, Cumbria was at the centre of another big flood, caused by Storm Desmond and a couple of close relatives
Some of the imagery is very familiar - Carlisle 2015, Keswick 2021
Read 9 tweets
2 Sep
Very odd story in @thetimes this morning on how a 'new front in the environmental culture war' could be in the offing over meat taxes thetimes.co.uk/article/should… @rhysblakely
Odd how? Firstly, because almost no-one is now talking about a meat tax. Why? Because a bunch of research over the last few years has shown how eye-wateringly unpopular it would be - so it's basically off the political menu
For example the recent Citizens' Assembly concluded dietary changes should be voluntary and achieved through education and choices, not compulsion - helping local farms along the way, and not penalising the poor climateassembly.uk/report/read/fi…
Read 9 tweets

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