Glasgow Dispatch - November 12

View this newsletter online Subscribe Review EESI Welcome! Today is the last official day of COP26 While most pavilions and other event spaces around the venue held concluding events and started packing up this morning, negotiators are still working on reviewing and responding to the newest version of the COP26 cover decision (1/CP.26, 1/CMP.16, and 1/CMA.3) and other texts. Most of the final negotiations are happening behind closed doors. At 4:00pm ET/9:00pm GMT today, the COP26 Presidency released a statement saying that they are “engaged in intensive consultations with Groups and Parties in an effort to reflect the views expressed, find the right balances, and develop texts that will have been built collectively.” The Presidency announced their current plan for the remainder of the negotiations: There will not be a plenary tonight. Texts will be revised overnight and likely shared around 3:00am ET/8:00am GMT. An informal plenary will be held sometime after 5:00am ET/10:00am GMT. A formal plenary meeting will likely take place on Saturday afternoon “to adopt decisions and close the session.” For the best play-by-play of what is happening in the negotiating rooms, read Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s report of the main proceedings and highlights. We will pop up in your inbox one last time on Monday for our final edition of Glasgow Dispatch, which will include information on COP26 decisions and outcomes and our compilation articles of key announcements and reports released during COP26. You can view all editions of our COP26 newsletter on EESI’s website.   ⇒⇒⇒ EESI Resource: For a comprehensive breakdown of what happened at COP26, we invite you to join us on Thursday, November 18 from 10:30am–12:00pm ET for a briefing that will go beyond the headlines into the nuances of COP26’s outcomes and explore what comes next. RSVP here.  What did you think about this newsletter? Let us know through this anonymous, one-minute survey! And if you have any questions about COP26, email Anna McGinn at [email protected].   Missed yesterday’s issue? Check it out here! Confused by COP terminology and acronyms? Check out the UNFCCC glossary of terms and other helpful guides in the Resources section!   Topics   Key Takeaways  |  U.S. Updates  |  Around the World  |  Resources   High-level Climate Champions Gonzalo Muñoz and Nigel Topping at the Resilience Hub. Credit: UNFCCC High-Level Climate Champions: The Resilience Hub held a final event today with the High-Level Climate Champions Gonzalo Muñoz and Nigel Topping. Muñoz and Topping reflected on their roles mobilizing non-state actors around the Race to Zero and the Race to Resilience. On next steps for the Race to Resilience campaign, Topping said “I think that we have done a good job of assembling this massive coalition called the Glasgow Finance Alliance with gazillions of money and have started them thinking about how that money flows to emerging markets and developing countries. We need to get some of that brainpower working on problem solving to unlock how we create the conditions for that money to flow … I plan to spend more time working with partners on unlocking finance.” ⇒⇒⇒ EESI Resource: Watch or read the highlights from our briefing, Momentum on Climate Adaptation, which features an introduction by Gonzalo Muñoz. Youth at COP: Yesterday, negotiators focused on technology issues decided to create three new seats on the Climate Technology Centre and Network’s (CTCN) advisory board for the youth constituency group (YOUNGO), the women and gender constituency group, and the indigenous peoples constituency group. This is the first time that the YOUNGO group will serve as a full member of a UNFCCC constituted body.   California State Senator John Laird speaking about wind energy, fire, and drought. Photo Credit: UNFCCC U.S. events: Over the last two weeks of COP26, the U.S. Center and the U.S. Climate Action Center hosted over 100 events on every dimension of climate change policy and U.S. programs advancing climate action. Today, the U.S. Center concluded its programming with events on the Arctic and climate-smart infrastructure. To view the full set of events hosted by the federal government at the U.S. Center, check out the recordings here. To view the events coordinated by the Climate Mayors, the Alliances for Climate Action, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the U.S. Climate Alliance, and America is All In, which were all held at the U.S. Climate Action Center, go here.   Wind, fire, and water in California: California State Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) spoke about opportunities and challenges for wind energy, fire management, and drought in California. Laird said that “California has not been at the forefront” of offshore wind, despite having the resources. He stated that California is currently going through a “green transition” to develop offshore wind by converting power plants that were used for fossil fuels to be able to transmit energy from offshore wind. In regards to fire management, Laird stated there is a “shifting fire paradigm in California” from fire suppression to land stewardship and fire management. Finally, Laird discussed how state agencies in California are working to mitigate the drought. Laird is part of the California State Senate COP26 delegation, which included five members in total. ⇒⇒⇒ EESI Resource: Watch or read highlights from our briefing, Resilience along the West Coast: Scientific and Policy Innovations Strengthening Communities and the Environment. ​​​​​​ Art made for COP26. Photo Credit: UNFCCC Flickr  Pavilions: There were dozens of pavilions at COP26 that hosted conversations on a variety of climate-related topics in different regions and sectors. You can find information on 35 of those pavilions and view many recorded events on the UNFCCC website. Many additional COP26 side events, high-level presentations, and speeches can be found on the U.N. Climate Change YouTube channel.   Adaptation Action Coalition: This coalition of countries, which has grown to include 40 members during COP26, works together to advance the Call for Action: Raising Ambition for Climate Adaptation and Resilience. The countries conduct this work through health, water, locally-led adaptation, disaster risk management, and infrastructure workstreams. The newest members of the coalition are Vietnam and Mozambique. The U.S. is on the Coalition’s steering committee.    U.K. carbon calculator: The U.K. held a panel to discuss their 2050 Carbon Calculator, which is an interactive tool to gauge how much different actions would reduce emissions in the U.K. by 2050. Tracking the negotiations Earth Negotiation Bulletin: A play-by-play of the negotiations plus expert analysis from the International Institute for Sustainable Development | @IISD_ENB Carbon Brief: Who wants what at COP26 living document to be updated in real time | @CarbonBrief ECO Newsletter: The climate advocate’s perspective from Climate Action Network International | @CANIntl COP26 Resource Hub: Analysis from the World Resources Institute | @WRIClimate Research and Independent NGOs: Notes from negotiating session taken by researchers at COP26  Background and logistics U.K. COP26 Presidency website: Priorities, details, and logistics for the negotiations | @COP26 UNFCCC COP26 website: Conference details and all updates on documents produced during the negotiations | @UNFCCC and @UNFCCCDocuments Congressional Research Service: Reports related to the UNFCCC UNFCCC glossary of terms EESI resources Briefing series: What Congress needs to know in the lead up to COP26 Creating Policies, Coalitions, and Actions for Global Sustainable Development Momentum on Climate Adaptation The Role of International Climate Finance The Negotiations: What’s on the Table Articles: Quick reads connecting international climate talks to Congress Climate Change Solutions: Biweekly newsletter covering climate, energy, and environmental issues

Questions about COP26?   Reach out to EESI Policy Manager Anna McGinn with your question and we will get back to you or include the information in an upcoming newsletter. Thanks for reading!   This newsletter covering COP26 will be running from November 1 to November 14. If you thought this newsletter was interesting, forward it to someone you know! If you were forwarded this edition, sign up here. Thank you to EESI staff for their contributions: Anna McGinn, Savannah Bertrand, Emma Johnson, Amaury Laporte   Environmental and Energy Study Institute  Daniel Bresette, Executive Director   EESI is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1984 by a bipartisan Congressional caucus to provide timely information and develop innovative policy solutions that set us on a cleaner, more secure and sustainable energy path.   www.eesi.org                 CFC #10627