杏吧原创

11/24/2021
By Ed Brennen

Was COP26 worth it?

That鈥檚 the question on the minds of seven UMass Lowell faculty members after returning from the recent United Nations global climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, a two-week conference of nearly 200 countries that resulted in several substantial international agreements 鈥� but that climate activists such as Sweden鈥檚 Greta Thunberg say was just a lot of 鈥渂lah, blah, blah.鈥�

鈥淲hether it was worth it depends on what we do next,鈥� says Assoc. Teaching Prof. of Sociology听Thomas Pi帽eros Shields, who was part of the interdisciplinary delegation representing UML鈥檚 Climate Change Initiative () in Glasgow. 鈥淚t depends on whether we choose to feel cynical and just walk away, or if we say now鈥檚 the time to step up and do more.鈥�

UML was granted 鈥減rovisional observer status鈥� for this year鈥檚 COP, or Conference of the Parties, where more than a quarter of the roughly 40,000 participants were observers from non-governmental organizations. In Glasgow, UML was approved for full observer status for future summits 鈥� starting with COP27 next year in Egypt.

Pi帽eros Shields attended the first week of COP26 along with Assoc. Prof. of Education听Jill Lohmeier, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry听Juan Artes Vivancos听and CCI Program Associate Carolyn McCarthy.

During the second week, UML was represented by Assoc. Prof. of Political Science and International Relations听Jarrod Hayes, Assoc. Prof. of Plastics Engineering听Meg Sobkowicz-Kline, Research Prof. of Economics听Dave Turcotte听and Prof. of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences听Juliette Rooney-Varga, who is director of the CCI and co-director of UML鈥檚 Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy.

Language Barriers

This was the second COP for Rooney-Varga, who attended the 2015 summit in France that led to the Paris Agreement, which set a goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to just 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels. The world has already warmed 1.1 C.

鈥淓ven though we鈥檙e running out of time, we are seeing real progress,鈥� says Rooney-Varga, who pointed to several hopeful developments in Glasgow, including pledges by more than 100 countries to cut methane emissions by more than 30% by 2030 and to end deforestation in 85% of the world鈥檚 forests by decade鈥檚 end.

While attendees were disappointed to see the Glasgow Climate Pact language watered down at the last minute 鈥� with the 鈥減hasing out鈥� of coal and fossil fuel subsidies changed to 鈥減hasing down鈥� at the behest of India 鈥� Rooney-Varga says the fact that coal and fossil fuels were even included was a victory.

鈥淭hey weren鈥檛 mentioned in the Paris Agreement, so it鈥檚 a big deal,鈥� she says.

It was also the second COP for Hayes, who attended the 2019 summit in Madrid (it was not held last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic). As a scholar of international relations, Hayes says he was interested in how the United States positions itself on the global stage regarding climate change 鈥� particularly in light of its strategic rivalry with China.

鈥淐hina was weak at this COP,鈥� says Hayes, who notes that, unlike President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping did not attend the summit. 鈥淐hina has not bought into a lot of the targets that other countries are pushing for, such as pledging to peak emissions by 2030 or reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.鈥�

But Hayes says the United States didn鈥檛 go far enough when it comes to ending subsidies for coal and fossil fuels. John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy for climate change, insisted on language for phasing out 鈥渦nabated鈥� coal (coal that doesn鈥檛 include carbon-capturing storage) and 鈥渋nefficient鈥� fossil fuel subsidies 鈥� which are seen by some critics as potential loopholes.

鈥淓ven though there was a huge opportunity for the U.S. to take a leadership position and address this problem, it was not willing to walk through the door that China has opened for it,鈥� says Hayes, who ascribes that to 鈥渢he domestic politics of the U.S. and the contentiousness of climate change, a clash that is not experienced in a lot of other countries around the world.鈥�

All-inclusive Solutions

For Lohmeier, who researches how art can be used to engage people in听climate science education, attending COP26 was an 鈥渆xtremely worthwhile鈥� opportunity to learn about education practices around the world.

She was struck by the fact that 23 countries pledged to include climate education in their national curricula while also committing to net-zero schools.

鈥淭he fact that they could get an entire country to say, 鈥榃e think this is important,鈥� is different than how we treat climate education in the U.S.,鈥� she says.听

Sobkowicz-Kline, meanwhile, says COP26 was 鈥渢he most inclusive and diverse conference鈥� that she鈥檚 ever attended.

鈥淥ne of the reasons I attended was to understand how to get people from so many different walks of life 鈥� with different languages and disciplines 鈥� to all row in the same direction,鈥� she says. 鈥淕atherings like this are essential for opening up that conversation and solving complex problems.鈥�

Pi帽eros Shields says he approached COP26 as an ethnography 鈥� a way to 鈥渞eally think about the youth activism鈥� taking place on the streets outside the conference, led by the likes of Thunberg.

鈥淭he first question I got from my students is, 鈥楬ave you met Greta yet?鈥欌�� says Pi帽eros Shields, who didn鈥檛 meet the teenage activist in person 鈥� but who could clearly sense the protesters鈥� presence at the summit.

鈥淥utside social movements are making increasingly strident moral appeals and demands on the older generations to do something,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e facing a credibility gap within the COP system, within this model of insider policymaking, and it鈥檚 only going to get worse until real changes and instrumental policies are enacted.鈥�

Part of the solution, he adds, is to include more sociologists and political scientists at COP, because 鈥渢he problems we face around climate change are not primarily scientific anymore.鈥�

During the summit, UML joined the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) coalition, which is part of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

鈥淭he core idea is that the right to information about climate change, and the right to participate in decision-making and climate action, is a universal human right,鈥� says Rooney-Varga, who hopes students will be part of the UML delegation at COP27 in Egypt.

William Lefebvre, a first-year environmental science major who attended the CCI鈥檚 COP26 recap discussion at Alumni Hall, says he鈥檚 interested in applying.

鈥淚 think as a nation, we need to come together and see this as an issue. People can鈥檛 be afraid of the science,鈥� says Lefebvre, who is from Leominster, Massachusetts. 鈥淚鈥檓 blown away by how integrated UMass Lowell is with global topics, especially with environmental science.鈥澨�听