My First COP26 Experience: Are there any reasons to be hopeful?

By Samuel E. VanderMeulen

I had the privilege of traveling to Glasgow to attend the COP26 as a member of the Tufts delegation. I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE), Tufts University Environmental Studies Program (ENVS), Dean Gallagher, Dean Kyte, and the rest of the Tufts delegates for providing this incredible opportunity, and I highly encourage anyone that is able to attend the COP through Tufts to do so.

Attending the COP as an undergraduate is as exciting as it is intimidating-- it is very easy to have a hefty dose of impostor syndrome, especially when compared with accomplishments and academic interests of the other Observers from Tufts. Once I passed security for the first time, however, I felt right at home.

The atmosphere inside the Scottish Exhibition Campus is both passionate and tense. There was an incredible sense of urgency, as everyone was acutely aware of the catastrophic implications of letting climate change run amok. The danger of a runaway climate doesn’t have to be stated-- it’s why we were there. And yet, everyone enters the COP with their own agenda and their own passions. The most memorable aspect of COP26 were the interactions I had with an incredibly diverse array of actors, from government ministers to scientists to ordinary people like myself. To attend a COP is to share-- however briefly-- the fears, passions, and excitement of a thousand individuals that represent a thousand more organizations and peoples, all focused on some aspect of saving the planet. Everyone at the COP wants you to share their interests, and will happily discuss their research/firm/initiative/etc. for as long as you will listen. I could have spent three weeks in the pavilions and hardly made a dent in the wealth of knowledge and experience present.

My first event at COP26 was spending time in the Zone B “Action Hub,” listening to world leaders present their opening statements and outline their goals for COP26. I was particularly anticipating President Biden’s speech-- as someone with an interest in domestic environmental policy, I was quite interested in learning about the U.S.’ goals for COP26, as well as global perception of the United States. President Biden echoed what scientists have been saying for decades, and what the IPCC says in its increasingly strongly worded reports: the science is clear. Rather than technological hurdles, my impression of the opening statements is that solving climate change is now a financial issue (and a political one, although I believe that politics comes down to money most of the time). In his pitch for the Build Back Better framework, President Biden noted that climate change presented an “economic imperative,” both to avoid economic risks in the future and to reap the economic benefits of a green transition. He also acknowledged the United States’ historically unstable commitment to multilateral environmental policy commitments. If there’s one thing that U.S. officials wanted to convey, it seems to be the notion that “America is back [in international climate policymaking].” Afterward, I spoke to some members of the German delegation who expressed reserved enthusiasm. It seems to me that America has lost a not-insignificant amount of credibility as a leader, but not uniformly so. My German companions noted that even when the U.S. pavilion stood empty at prior COPs, Americans from many different sectors, from Governors to business leaders to mayors of large cities, brought their passion for environmental protection.

“Rather than technological hurdles, my impression of the opening statements is that solving climate change is now a financial issue”

I spent a great deal of time at the U.S. Center. I felt some sense of place in the American pavilion. Partially because the array of speakers hosted at U.S. Center events was fantastic. I couldn’t help but suspect that the State Department was very eager to project the image of leadership, and quite happy to host as many speakers as were willing to praise the United States for its return to the table. At the same time, hearing from foreign government ministers, corporate executives, and U.S. government figures such as Gina McCarthy and John Kerry was an unforgettable experience. A particularly memorable event hosted a delegation of sitting Senators, including Ed Markey, Jon Ossoff, and Sheldon Whitehouse, promoting the role that Congress can play in international and domestic environmental policy agreements.  

But words are empty without action, and substantive action should be the result of a COP. Wavel Ramkalawan, the President of the Republic of Seychelles, called on every world leader to end the cycle of empty promises and delayed action. From low-lying island nations and nations that will suffer the brunt of climate damages while having contributed the least to the planet’s destruction, the message was one of accusation. The rich and developed nations have a moral imperative to assist those nations that would be denied that same path of development. Whether this COP will result in actionable commitments will be decided over the next year. We will see this as successes in deforestation and methane reduction are balanced by the ultimate failure of negotiations to enact binding agreements over emissions reductions necessary to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“But words are empty without action, and substantive action should be the result of a COP”

I truly believe-- perhaps somewhat naively-- that substantive action will come out of this COP, and that nations will make tangible progress towards addressing climate change and environmental justice.  But it is hard to leave feeling optimistic. My generation has never known a world in which the United States was not at war. We have weathered two once-in-a-generation economic collapses before reaching the age of twenty-five. We have been told to ask our children, and our children’s children, to pay for the excesses of the past and present. While at the same time, would we please quiet down? The adults are negotiating with our future.

It is our duty to be unreasonable; to demand action; to denounce inaction; to sacrifice; and to demand change. I spent my final full day in Glasgow in the Scottish Exhibition Center listening to governments give presentations on what they would like to maybe do, possibly, at some point in the future. Outside, a hundred thousand people were marching together. I wish I had joined them.

Samuel is a political science student at the School of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering at Tufts University.