Strong opposition coming from India, Russia, and China, and from many developing sector countries that reject the demand that they scrap economic development just to meet climate goals, and the demand that they reduce population growth because children are labelled and libeled as “polluters of the future,” had already called the November Glasgow, Scotland, COP26 into question. Now, from the other side—the far side—the climate summit is also faced with resistance:
A global coalition of more than 1,500 green groups on Tuesday called for the U.N. COP26 climate talks to be postponed, due to fears that delegates from the world’s most vulnerable countries face exclusion.
The groups, which include Climate Action Network International (CAN-I) and Greenpeace, said it was “impossible” to hold the talks in a way that allowed everyone to participate safely, citing unequal access to vaccines, difficulty obtaining connecting flights to Europe, and a lack of financial support for delegates who must quarantine ahead of the talks.
“Our concern is that those countries most deeply affected by the climate crisis and those countries suffering from the lack of support by rich nations in providing vaccines will be left out and be conspicuous by their absence at COP26,” said Tasneem Essop, executive director of CAN-I.
The U.K. government will require unvaccinated attendees from red zone countries to quarantine for 10 days ahead of the November talks. Those who have received a full dosage of any COVID-19 vaccine face a five-day quarantine. Currently, every name on the 62-country U.K. red list is a developing country under U.N. climate rules, except Turkey.
The green groups’ concerns on vaccines availability and on the costs of a 10-day quarantine in a pricey Glasgow hotel, add to the difficulties posed to the COP26 by the principled resistance coming from India, Russia, China, and other countries.
