The COP26: Will it address Food, Fuel, and Finance implications of Climate Change?

This weekend over 20,000 people from around the world including world leaders will descend onto Glasgow in Scotland to attend a two-week conference called COP26.?The conference will discuss mitigation and adaptation actions required to bring the effects of climate change on communities, ecosystems, and economies in check. The Conference of Parties (COP) since its adoption in 1992, and the signing of the treaty in 1994 has been a supreme decision-making body made up of representatives from about 196 parties. It recognizes the dangers and urgency of climate change and provides a framework for climate change negotiations.

The COP has been a platform for setting and tracking global and national targets and actions on climate change.?At COP21 held in 2015 in Paris, France, a landmark legally binding international treaty which Zambia is a part of called the Paris Agreement was signed by 196 countries.?It was entered into force on the 4th of November 2016, where Parties committed to working together to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees, preferably 1.5 degrees celsius in line with the pre-industrial level.??This agreement informed by evidence of changing climate requires social and economic transformation to reduce greenhouse emissions. Countries by 2020 were required to submit actions plan known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Technical, financial, and capacity building all have a role in delivering these plans.

Today, climate change has continued to affect communities and economies worldwide. Recent research shows that it would cost the world 10 percent of its?GDP?by 2050 if action is not taken to bring climate change under control. Despite industrial nations having contributed the most to our unstable climate, developing countries have been the most have faced worse impacts of climate change, with economic impacts of up to 4.7 percent of their GDP. Zambia has already spent billions of dollars in responding to climate change, hence not exempted.

The 26th UN Conference of Parties (COP26) to be held in Glasgow in the next two weeks comes five years after the Paris Agreement, and is another opportunity for global leaders to agree on bold measures to combat climate change to ensure earth remains productive and a safe space for all. The COP26 framework will focus on four main goals which are: to secure global net-zero by mid-century and keep 1.5C degrees within reach; adapt to protect communities and natural habitats; mobilize finance, and work together to deliver finance needed to support action.?This conference will essentially address how to meet climate-related threats to sustainable food, fuel, and finance needed to address climate change for current and future generations.

The goals for the conference imply transforming food systems, switching and investing in cleaner renewable energy by phasing out coal and charcoal and encouraging a switch to green technologies for agriculture, transport, and energy. The conference will encourage the protection and restoration of ecosystems for countries most affected by climate change and deforestation. It shall follow up on past commitments of developed countries in meeting their climate finance yearly target of at least $100 billion. In addition, it will also articulate the role of International Financial Institutions and the private sector in stimulating finance and taking action to secure a global net-zero target. Lastly, it shall anchor one of the most important aspects for the achievement of?SDGs, which is increased results-driven strategic collaborations between governments, businesses, and civil society organizations to deliver smart and sustainable climate action.

In line with the set goals, Zambia has its urgent challenges.?Nearly 70 percent of its population is still dependent on wood fuel as a source of energy. Zambia is ranked as having the??5th highest rate of deforestation in the world and highest in Africa. These activities have not only been driven by energy needs but have been unsustainable sources of income for local communities that lack alternatives. To bring, climate change and deforestation under control, the government must prioritize spurring the availability of affordable and low carbon energy options for the population while building sustainable livelihoods for all.?Private sectors and NGOs can collaborate with the public sector to deliver these transformations.?Seeing the success of a switch to renewable energy would require deliberate investments for a complete overhaul of the energy sector,?towards meeting the business and domestic needs of the communities first before export of excess energy.

Additionally, Zambia has shown commitments in trying to mitigate the impacts of climate change especially in the agriculture sector, however, a huge gap remains in the finance required to scale up the transition. The need for sustainable livestock management, smart farming, clean energy, and low carbon emissions go beyond the country's capacity and needs investments to be actualized. This implies a bigger role for climate and green finance instruments, which includes commercial and blended finance options. The country has also shown its commitment to global collaboration in combating climate change through the adoption of national policies and the signing of international treaties to hold it accountable for the achievement of environmental sustainability targets.

The COP26, therefore, emerges as of utmost importance to the country. Zambia shall be at the table when major global rules and targets for international carbon emissions shall be set there. The platform will provide Zambia with an opportunity to highlight the climate change impacts it faces as well profile?Zambian-led initiatives combating climate change that require international financing.

The summit would fail to achieve its purpose if the despairs of the communities in Zambia and elsewhere that were most affected by climate change are not heard, and no concrete commitments and funding are made available deliberately to alleviate their pain and losses. #COP26 is thus a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for this generation of global leaders to commit to ambitious mitigation and adaptation targets and allocate large-scale resources required to address our shared climate emergency.?For WWF, placing nature restoration efforts at the heart of the #COP26 agreement will be a win for the most vulnerable, and insurance for future generations.