The Sunday Debate: Is COP26 a turning point for the planet?

Intelligence Squared

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🗓️ 30 October 2021

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This debate, recorded on Thursday 28th October 2021, was part of Energised, a debate series from Intelligence Squared in partnership with Iberdrola, a leading company in the field of renewable energy. It’s make or break time for the planet. That’s the warning issued by the UN ahead of COP26 in Glasgow this November, when leaders and heads of state from all over the world will meet to agree on global action to fight climate change. The main goal will be for them to commit to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century with interim targets by 2030. If they don’t achieve this, many scientists warn, the effects of rising global temperatures – extreme weather, rising sea levels and warming oceans – may become irreversible. But what are the chances of success? Very little, if previous summits are anything to go by. Despite a COP having taken place every year since 1995 (with the exception of last year due to the pandemic), and all the buzz around the Kyoto Protocol of 2011 and the Paris Agreement of 2015, concentrations of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have continued to rise steadily, even during the lockdowns of 2020. But this year there is an unprecedented urgency in the run up to the conference. Can the biggest emitters – China, the US, India, Russia and Japan – be persuaded to sign up to legally binding agreements on emissions? Will the voices of people from the Global South, where the effects of the climate crisis are already being felt, be heard? And is the UN’s top-down approach really the best way to tackle the most pressing existential threat facing the world today? We were joined by ScottishPower CEO Keith Anderson and Professor of Energy Policy and Official Fellow in Economics Dieter Helm to debate whether COP26 will make any serious contribution in the fight against climate change. The debate was chaired by Kamal Ahmed. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Is COP26 a turning point for the planet or is it too late to stop climate change in its tracks?
0:05.4	Well, that's the question at the heart of this week's Sunday debate,
0:08.6	as we're bringing together two leading experts to assess the impact of COP26,
0:13.5	and whether it can really make a difference in the fight against climate change.
0:16.9	It's a fascinating debate and it took place in partnership with Ebert Roller,
0:20.5	and we hope you enjoy it, and now let's go to the host Kamal Ahmed for more.
0:24.8	Welcome to you all, welcome to this energized debate, this new series from Intelligent
0:30.4	Squared in partnership with Ebert Roller. So in the coming weeks, we'll be bringing together
0:36.0	leading voices to discuss the biggest issue, frankly, which is energy, the environment,
0:42.6	and climate change. I'm your host, Kamal Ahmed, and tonight's question is pretty simple.
0:48.0	Is COP26 a turning point for the planet?
0:53.3	Now, before we begin, I'm going to ask you the audience to submit your pre-vote
0:59.6	to get a sense of where your opinions lie. As we know, it's just three days to go. More than 190
1:08.3	world leaders will begin those discussions in Glasgow at the 26th conference of the parties.
1:16.1	The annual summit organized by the United Nations to reach a consensus on how best to tackle
1:22.0	climate change and keep to the Paris Agreements goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5
1:28.8	degrees Celsius and a climate neutral world by the middle of this century. But there is already
1:36.8	division over whether this is an achievable goal. Is this, as Greta Thumboker said,
1:42.4	all so much blah, blah, blah, even the Queen has been reported as questioning whether
1:49.8	countries are really acting in the best interests of tackling climate change? Is there a clash
1:57.5	between net zero and economic growth? Do we need more economic growth in the West?
2:04.7	And with some of the biggest emitters such as Russia choosing not to attend,
	...

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