LONDON — The U.K. government had not planned on dealing with a health crisis in November 2020. Instead, this month it was supposed to be working on averting an even bigger crisis, by co-hosting the Conference of Parties climate summit, COP 26, in Glasgow.
But the pandemic set the summit back a year, giving much of the government valuable time to rally its diplomats and prepare for negotiations. Despite the pressures of the pandemic, the extra time has also given the development sector a chance to organize and push for a more successful outcome.
While there are some positive early signs — many of the world’s largest economies are now committed to net-zero — the summit is also expected to be riddled with challenges. Particular sticking points relevant to the development sector are likely to be around the will of higher-income countries to pay lower-income nations the $100 billion agreed under the Paris accords to deal with the effects of climate change, and to take responsibility for loss and damage caused by a warming planet.