Glasgow: Thousands of youth activists were descending on the Scottish city of Glasgow on Friday to protest what they say is a dangerous lack of action by leaders at the COP26 climate summit.
Two days of demonstrations are planned to highlight the disconnect between the glacial pace of emissions reductions and the climate emergency already swamping countries across the world.
Organisers of the Fridays for Future global strike movement said they expected large crowds at Friday’s three-hour protest during COP26 “Youth Day”, which will be attended by high-profile campaigners Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate.
“This UN Climate Summit, we’re once again seeing world leaders saying big words and big promises,” said Mitzi Jonelle Tan, a climate justice activist from the Philippines.
“We need drastic carbon dioxide emission cuts, reparations from the Global North to the Global South to use for adaptation and to manage loss and damages, and we need to put an end to the fossil fuel industry.”
Delegates from nearly 200 countries are in Glasgow to hammer out how to meet the Paris Agreement goals of limiting temperature rises to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.
The UN-led process requires countries to commit to ever-increasing emissions cuts, and enjoins richer, historical emitters to help developing countries fund their energy transformations and deal with climate impacts.
Countries issued two additional pledges on Thursday to reduce their fossil fuel consumption.
Twenty nations including major financiers the United States and Canada promised to end overseas fossil fuel funding by the end of 2022.
And over 40 countries pledged to phase out coal — the most polluting fossil fuel — although details were vague and a timeline for doing so not disclosed.
The promises followed a major assessment that showed global CO2 emissions are set to rebound in 2021 to pre-pandemic levels.
