COP26 Reflections: The future is defined by our actions today, tomorrow & every other day

Like many people working to advance sustainability, I was involved in, and eager to see what evolved from COP26 in Glasgow. I attended in person for the first few days of the conference to present at the UNFCCC Innovation Hub on systems change, and I was involved in a side event organised by the UK Design Council called Design for Planet , which inspiringly set out to galvanize the 1.69 million designers in the UK to design for positive planetary impact.?

There are several things that I witnessed, experienced and have reflected on as a result of these two weeks — two weeks where the world watched global leaders battle out a plan to not fully commit to addressing climate change . Perhaps you were also there, or you watched the extensive news coverage, read attendees’ frustrated posts, heard the politicians and negotiators who tried to gather hope from what unfolded, listened to youth activists demand more immediate and significant action to protect their future??

The general consensus, even from COP president Alok Sharma and the head of the UN, António Guterres , is that the agreement, The Glasgow Climate Pack , is nowhere near enough. The combination of vested interests and watered down language (from “phasing out” to “phasing down” coal, for example) have resulted in, yes, an agreement (which I’m sure was hard to get) that 196 countries signed up to (whereas other climate COP’s such as COP15 in Copenhagen had not achieved such an agreement). But what was agreed to at COP26 has definitive gaps, with no timeline on eradicating fossil fuel subsidies (there is a commitment to revisit and strengthen), no global price on carbon and no bans on the use of coal (which is by far the most inefficient and climate-damaging way of getting power for human use). The Australian coal industry and its many powerful supporters (who were there as invited guests of the government to be observers) are now saying “it’s a win for coal ,” underscored by the 2019 approval of one of the world’s biggest coal mines in Queensland, the Carmichael mine , which started extracting this year and will produce 40–60 million tons of thermal coal annually , despite the many environmental concerns, especially the effects it will have on the Great Barrier Reef. India and China were also instrumental in keeping coal in the global energy mix. But this was the first time that fossil fuels were even mentioned in a resulting COP document.?

In the first few days, things looked promising, agreements were announced to address methane emissions (30% reduction by 2030) and tackle deforestation (100 countries to end it by 2030), and there was the financial backing of “clean technology ” ($130tn of financial assets redirected). These are all steps in the right direction, but the lack of dialog on the other major contributing factors to climate change like agriculture, consumption, and mining and waste, means that we continue to avoid the real issue at hand. That being, climate change is embedded in everything we do. From every disposable chopstick to our cell phones and internet searches, the global supply chain and services are riddled with externalities not accounted for in the modern, linear, and polluting economy. This is why putting a price on pollution and internalising the externalities that the economy actively encourages is so important.?

Given that money makes the world go around, reorienting how it’s used to drive markets towards sustainable and carbon positive outcomes, creates mechanisms that motivate change within the mainstream system. One thing you can do right now is move your money to banks and investments that are actively working to decarbonize.?

To really address the negative effects that humans have had on the climate and the planet at large (ocean plastic waste, deforestation, ecosystem damage, the sixth great extinction etc.), we have to redesign everything. We need systems-wide change, especially the economic incentives that propel our species to destroy the life-support systems we all need to survive. We have to incentivise innovation and business model transformation so that we can meet our needs in ways that are sustainable and regenerative to the planet. The tasks at hand are obviously daunting for some, frustrating for others and existential for many, but in order to change systems there are steps that can be taken. First, we have to understand what is reinforcing the issues within the system, resulting in the undesirable outcomes, then identify the areas of intervention for shifting the status quo. Let’s look at COP26 within these two steps.????

Step 1: Issues reinforcing the system?

Like many observers of this process, I see some glaringly obvious systems influencing issues that work to reinforce the problems at play. Allow me to elaborate on four of them:?

Climate Change is embedded in everything we do, but we have carbon tunnel vision

It’s not just about reducing emissions from tailpipes and smokestacks; in every grain of rice, in every pint of beer, burger, chair, tampon, hairbrush and crisp packet, there is an embodied impact on the climate and natural systems that regulate it. Embodied impacts describe the negative externalities that are unaccounted for but locked-in through the design and production process. Impacts are embedded at all the life cycle stages, including when materials are extracted from nature, processed into usable goods, transported around the world, then used up and discarded as waste. All along the supply chain , there are a multitude of impacts, fossil fuels and pollutions produced, such as nitrogen use in agriculture or methane emissions from landfills (both potent greenhouse gases ) these all contribute to the problem. So we need to move beyond thinking about the climate crisis as being just an energy-at-the-point-of-use-issue. It’s an entire global supply chain and consumerism issue.??

Addicted to System Sustenance

The system of power that dragged us into this mess is being maintained by those that have benefited from creating it. This is both in the countries that are still addicted to fossil fuels (my home country of Australia being one of them), and in the cultures of extraction and exploitation that have led to the global environmental issues we currently face. These systems are addictive, and for many, the sunk cost associated with creating factories, power plants and mines means that they can’t envisage an alternative. Thus, they demand to maintain what they know. This is how we ended up with so many corporate lobbyists hanging out at their countries’ booths and swanning around the SEC campus (where the event was held), spruiking their carbon geosequestration initiatives and so-called (but not possible) clean coal plants. Even Shell, one of the world's biggest contributors to greenhouse gasses, a company that has long known about the negative impacts of their actions , said that they will need to keep extracting fossil fuels to pay for the development of their non-fossil energy transition, an oxymoronic idea. We all know that quitting something you are addicted to can be hard work that requires foresight and willpower. But right now, we need to support quitters, the courageous leaders who are willing to do what is right for many, not just a few.

Greenwashing and Vested Interests

There was rightfully a big criticism of the amount of greenwashing going on at COP26, and with so many corporate lobbyists there, it was not surprising to witness so many unfounded, non-relevant green claims. In my work with organizations and companies shifting to being sustainable and circular, I find many of them accidentally greenwash. They don’t hire people with the right technical skills needed to decipher the complexity of sustainability; they rely on old ideas and think doing a little bit is enough. Greenwashing happens when more money is invested in marketing cute green ideas, rather than putting money into the research and development needed to develop truly sustainable innovations and interventions, or it’s about intentionally misdirecting the consumer by fake, vague or ‘green’ tingled language . Many companies make claims they can’t back up, they distract from the issue at hand (such as claiming being carbon neutral from offsetting) or set ambitious sexy sounding goals far off into the future (2050 for example) with limited chance of actually changing their business model and the cultural status quo of unsustainability that they have used to make all their money to begin with! Greenwashing distracts from the real solutions. It makes people feel good now, which then creates a rebound effect as they go off and do even greater impact things. It buys time to delay genuine action and distracts well-intentioned people from the real issues at hand. Greenwashing is part of the reason possible innovations are not discovered, people become cynical (and by gosh is there a lot of that to go around), and it wastes valuable time and money.

Gender and Diversity?

UN Women released a graphic that showed 67% of climate negotiators are men . I am not sure what the racial breakdown at COP26 was; one could assume given that this is the meeting of 196 nations, that it would be diverse. However, the lack of indigenous representatives in negotiators and the gender gap is a striking reminder of the accumulation of power and the lack of diversity in the type of negotiations that play out. Only 2 of the 12 sent to negotiate on behalf of the United Kingdom were women (originally it was going to be an all male team ). Across the board, only 37% of top negotiators at COP26 in Glasgow identified as women, despite the fact that women the world over are impacted the most by the changing climate , with 80% of women being displaced by the effects. This was an issue highlighted at the last Conference of the Parties, COP21, in Paris . Mary Robinson, former UN Chief and Ireland’s first female president said about COP21, “This is a very male world. When it is a male world, you have male priorities.” Another illuminating fact: in the history of the United Nations, there has never been a female secretary-general , although in August this year, a new female under-secretary general, Pramila Patten, was appointed .?

Step 2: Opportunities to Take Action?

From a systems thinking perspective , all problems hold their own opportunities for change, and so from these issues, let me present four of many potential possibilities I see emerging.?

Anxiety to Action?

Many young people feel an intense, real and overwhelming anxiety about their future because of the climate crises, but they are channeling this into a resounding call for action as a remedy for the stalemate. The youth activists that have emerged from all over the world, alongside Greta Thurnberg, are articulate, future-focused, systems thinking, proactive actionists who are leading a movement that I believe can topple the old power structures. Many great shifts in societies of the past have come from youth making changes to the way they see the world working (this was the case with the Baby Boomers completely rewriting the social codes of the generations before them). This is one of those times when the ideological gap between the youth, who will inherit the future, and the established power structures create a cultural revolution of sorts. So, support your young people in getting involved, in using their collective power to unite around the change they want to be in the world. But don’t rely on them to solve the challenges that we collectively face and contribute to. It will take all of us to help transform the economy towards a sustainable future.?

Private Sector Transformation

The leadership and courage of some pioneering players in the private sector, those willing to take on the full transformation needed to address the climate and ecological crisis — they are the leaders that we need to disrupt the status quo and get more tangible action in play.? Business leadership is where so much of the change can take hold right now, in redesigning the supply chains, business practices and thus the planetary impacts of the economy. The private sector is not operating in isolation; investment, consumer preference and competition are major drivers for destructive practices. So, retooling these to be driven based on social and environmental performance can dramatically shift the status quo on the role business plays in society. This comes down to the workers, customers and shareholders demanding accountability and action. Just look at the role protesting Amazon workers had in getting Bezos to give a slither of a damn about the impacts of his monolith .?

Accountability?

One thing that was for sure, urgency was not on the minds of many of the big countries negotiating at COP26 — maintaining the status quo was. The only way representatives of democracies who are elected by the people of their countries will get the needed sense of urgency to take action (and perhaps overcome the power of vested interests influencing and funding them) is from their constituents holding them accountable. This means letters, calls, conversations and voting preferences. We are citizen designers of the future through the actions or inactions we choose to take today. No matter what your political or personal ideology is, the planet’s health is non-negotiable. We all need it, rely on it and have a collective interest in regenerating it so that future generations can prosper.?

Growth areas for transformation?

Some additional important topics missing from the COP26 conversation:

• Nature-based solutions , such as mechanisms that rewild and rebuild natural ecosystem resilience
• The impact of food and agriculture, including the need to reduce meat production and nitrogen use in farming?
• Addressing food waste — with a third and up to half of all food produced wasted, resulting in around 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food not consumed , we end up increasing production to cover losses. Also, much of this waste contributes methane when it’s decaying, so by redirecting organic waste to biodigesters and tapping methane to be used as a fuel source, we can reduce a significant chunk of greenhouse gas emissions??
• Indigenous rights and approaches to land preservation ; indigenous peoples make up less than 5% of the world's population, but they protect 80% of the world's biodiversity , they play a critical role in the transition to a just and sustainable future?
• Rectifying GDP and the fact that there is no value placed on any natural system or service left as nature; as long as we don't value nature we have no incentive to protect it?
• A true price on externalities like carbon and pollution ; using monetary mechanisms to make polluters pay for the damage they cause creates an incentive for them to change what they do?

The future is defined by our actions today?

Whilst international negotiations are complex and often fall short of our expectations, it’s important to stay positive, focused and hopeful about the challenges we face and the opportunities that they present. The actions we’ve seen start to be taken as a result of COP26 offer some slithers of hope. Grander steps are needed, as are more pioneering leaders, but there are many aspects of society that are critical in achieving the change we need. Don’t deflect responsibility onto some other person or part of the system, and don't give up your agency to contribute to change. Instead, see yourself as part of the beautiful, complex, ever-evolving system, with the opportunity to help shift the status quo in all the actions that you, me, and everyone else takes.

We can all be a part of turning the greatest challenge of our time into an opportunity for innovation and transformation because the future we enter into is defined by our actions today, tomorrow and every other day we get to live on this incredible Earth. Leaders will meet again in a year, so the actions we take today will influence the future negotiations and commitments that our leaders take on our behalf. And in the meantime, there is infinite scope for taking action in the workplace, in the voting booths, on the streets and in our homes. The conversations and consumption choices we make matter. The planet matters. Let’s all lead the way to a better future today.?

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This article was written as part of the LinkedIn #Changemakers campaign – a campaign shining a spotlight on individuals using LinkedIn to drive genuine change in the world of work. To find out more about the partnership, read more here . And if you want to join the conversation, share the one thing you’d like to change about the world of work in a post on LinkedIn with the hashtag #ConversationsForChange