COP26 - So how was it for our world and our oceans?

The expectations were high as the scientific analysis and reports showed categorically that the world was on a trajectory towards a calamitous 2.7°C of warming...

Scientists called for world leaders to get on track for the safer Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C. One of the most important outcomes from COP26, and for which the OCC has advocated to leading countries, is recognising the global climate emergency and that human activities have caused around 1.1°C of global warming to date. In addition, the COP26 agreement countries resolved to pursue efforts to keep to 1.5°C of warming.

If all the promises made during COP26 were to be kept - including countries agreeing to strengthen their emissions-cutting targets for 2030 by the end of next year, pledges to end and reverse deforestation, and reduce methane emissions - warming could be kept to below 2°C. However, the actual plans countries produced have only reduced the projected increase slightly to an expected 2.4°C by 2050 - still a devastating prospect for the world, our oceans and cruising as we have known it.

Although keeping below 2°C of warming would mitigate the worst effects of climate change, every fraction of a degree of warming means the oceans absorb more heat, resulting in an increase in sea surface temperatures and rising sea level. Changes in ocean temperatures and currents brought about by climate change will lead to alterations in climate patterns around the world. Furthermore, ocean acidification and deoxygenation will increase, and there will be loss of marine habitats and species. Moreover, whole countries such as Tuvalu may simply disappear along with other low-lying island and coastal communities around the world. This is why there is so much emphasis on keeping to 1.5°C of warming.

It is widely understood that the temperature increase cannot be contained within 1.5°C without phasing out coal, oil and gas. Importantly, some 40 nations and organisations have committed to ending overseas public financing of polluting fossil fuels by the end of 2022, which could move around $24 billion a year into clean energy. However, in last minute wrangling by India and China, the final text was diluted to "phase down" rather than "phase out" inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels, along with unabated coal (i.e. coal used in power generation without pollution control measures).

More than 40 world leaders - including from the US, India, Australia, Turkey, the EU and China - have agreed on a UK-led plan to speed up affordable and clean technology worldwide by 2030, covering more than 50 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and including zero-emission vehicles and steel manufacture, and sustainable agriculture.

In the maritime sphere, 22 countries committed to creating at least six zero-emission maritime routes by 2025 and hoped to see "many more" green shipping corridors by 2030. In good news for cruisers planning to head across the Pacific and calling at Galapagos, Ecuador has vowed to expand the Galapagos marine reserve by almost half to around 50,000 square miles.

The most disappointing outcome for countries facing the most extreme devastation was the failure of richer nations to provide the finance they need to meet their own climate targets and adjust to the impacts of climate change, as well as to pay for the disruption and upheaval (known as 'loss and damage'). There was no agreement on new funds nor concrete action on how wealthy nations will meet long-standing but undelivered commitments, such as the $100 billion per year promised in 2009. We will be hearing a lot more about this as a demand for climate justice for the countries which are most at risk and have contributed least to global warming.

Finally, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the approved texts from COP26 were a compromise that took important steps, but the "collective political will was not enough", and he warned: "Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread. We are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe." What next then? The UK continues with the Presidency of COP26 until November 2022 when COP27 assembles in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. It is to be hoped that work also continues in pressing countries to sharpen their plans to address climate change, reduce CO2 emissions and provide the badly-needed funds for countries and people most at risk from global warming.

This article has been provided by the courtesy of Ocean Cruising Club.