Climate Agreements Have Always Failed Before They Succeeded
The transition from fossil fuels may be slow, but it is happening. That's one reason for optimism going from the G-20 talks to COP26.
Room for improvement.
Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/BloombergThe history of United Nations climate conferences is a history of failure. That comes with the territory. If any one meeting was to solve all the problems of preventing catastrophic global warming, there would be no need for any further action.
That’s the best way to think about the disappointing outcome of talks between the Group of 20 large economies ahead of this week’s Glasgow climate summit. The communique from participants failed to make a firm pledge to phase out coal, one of the key targets of the U.K.’s negotiators. Commitments on reducing methane emissions were also missing from the final communique, and the date the world will hit net zero was described as “by or around mid-century” rather than 2050, while other language was softened or removed.