On Tuesday 7 September, the global NGO network Climate Action Network (CAN) called for a postponement of the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP26) on the grounds that it would not be “safe, inclusive or fair” due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Looking at the current timeline for COP26 (due to be held from 31 October until 12 November in Glasgow), it is difficult to imagine there can be fair participation from the Global South under safe conditions and it should therefore be postponed”, said Tasneem Essop, the executive director of this network that has more than 1,500 civil society organisations.
CAN is concerned that delegations, journalists and civil society activists from southern countries – many of whom are currently ‘red-listed’ by the UK (the host of COP26) as a result of numbers of Covid-19 cases – will find themselves de facto excluded from the COP due to the limited access to vaccines in those countries.
Noting that more than half of Europe’s population is fully vaccinated, while only 3% of Africa is, the NGO also cited rising travel and accommodation costs and uncertainty about the evolution of the pandemic as other obstacles to holding a fair and inclusive COP in November.
In this context, while “the climate talks are important”, “they simply cannot proceed by locking out the voices of those who especially need to be heard at this time”, Essop said.
CAN also added: “This call to postpone COP26 does not in any way imply a postponement of urgent climate action or a boycott of the climate talks”.
In response to this call, President of the COP26, Alok Sharma, defended the notion of continuing to hold a face-to-face COP26 in early November.
In a written statement (https://bit.ly/2WUTan9 ), he said that the UK government is prepared to fund hotel stays for delegates, observers and media arriving from red zones who will need to quarantine, as well as vaccinating accredited delegates who would not otherwise be able to get vaccinated.
London also said that delegates registered to receive a vaccine through the accreditation process will start receiving their first dose this week, although it did not say how many doses this would be. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)