COP26 and what's next: Why my glass is half full

COP26 was a whirlwind, wasn’t it? After a long build-up and two weeks of negotiations it all quickly came to an end, and the reactions from business, NGOs, media and others were some of the most diverse I’ve ever seen. Having spent the last week reading and reflecting on the wins and disappointments – and the pressing need to act – here’s?my take on the summit?outcomes and where we?need to focus?going forward.?

The news on forests?was?very?positive?–?137?countries, covering?91%?of the world’s forests,?pledged?to?stop and?reverse?forest loss?by 2030.?This?isn’t?the first forest declaration?we’ve?ever?had – sceptics will point to the 2014 New York Declaration of Forests?and others that have not delivered?– but?this is the first time?the declaration?is backed?with?commitments on?finance and?action.?￡16+?billion of private?and?public funds?was committed, including?￡1.7 billion?to advance?indigenous peoples’ and local communities’?forest tenure rights.?

There was also the?FACT dialogue?with concrete roadmaps, the LEAF Coalition having mobilised $1 billion for tropical forest conservation, and a lot more interest from business and financiers;?including commitment by ten of the largest commodity trading groups to set out a roadmap to align their supply chains with 1.5°C by COP27.?

Also,?good news on methane. The commitments to cut methane emissions by 30%?from 2020 levels?by 2030 is not trivial.?As you know, the greenhouse gas impact of methane in the short term is over 80 times?that of CO2, and this?commitment on methane could itself shave?off?0.3°C?of warming.? ?

Then there is the long-awaited agreement?on?Article 6,?undoubtedly?a compromise between many interested parties.?We would have liked them to go further, but with the rules finalised countries can now get on with trading emissions with no double counting.?Businesses also have clarity on the way forward on voluntary carbon markets. Unilever’s approach is to prioritise direct emissions cuts to meet our climate goals, and only buy credits for natural climate solutions with the highest social and environmental integrity and credibility for addressing residual emissions. An addition to decarbonisation and emission reductions, NOT instead of.

The work with VCMI (Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative) that Unilever supports is critical. High environmental integrity?means an actual benefit to the environment, in other words?ensuring carbon removals?or emissions reductions?take?or keep?emissions out of the atmosphere?and are made with permanence of storage in nature or nature identical ways.?And ensuring that indigenous people and local communities have a seat at the table from the start. Our position here is quite clear: Integrity before Scaling. Always.?

We also?shouldn’t?downplay the increased spotlight given to adaptation and resilience at COP26. There was broad recognition that we need to up our game globally on addressing adaptation and building resilience, especially when it comes to supporting the most vulnerable people and communities. A commitment to double adaptation finance and a process to tease out how to deliver the global goal on adaptation are positive steps we?need?to see through over the next couple of years.? ?

What we still need: the annual $100bn of climate finance for developing countries to materialise,?and higher ambition to get us onto the fabled?1.5°C pathway we’ve all been chasing.?This?isn’t?just a matter of trust,?the?global?low-carbon, climate-resilient transition?won’t?happen?if?countries that need support?don’t?get it to?take action. The Climate Finance Delivery Plan?from developed countries?and the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)?from the private sector, both headliners at COP26?should help.

Then, disappointment that the NDCs did not add up to halving global emissions by 2030, and?too soft a stance on ending the use of coal. Glasgow?didn’t?deliver this.?We should recognise?where countries, developed and developing,?did?step up,?and that this was the?first time?that fossil fuels and fossil fuel subsidies were explicitly?targeted in an official COP outcome, but it clearly isn’t enough, and we need more.

Notable though, that businesses, cities, states, and regions are really making strides on climate action. Commitments made in the private sector?are increasingly?ambitious:?over 1000 companies representing more than $23?trillion?market capitalisation?have now set?1.5°C-aligned?science-based?targets?and?many companies are in reduction mode already.?

At Unilever, we set our first SBTi-aligned goal in 2010 – halving the?end-to-end?carbon footprint of our products, from cradle to grave, through product innovation, advocacy?and behaviour change.?We estimate that our absolute?GHG emissions peaked in 2018?and is now?on the way down, even as our business is growing.?In 2016, across our operations (scope 1 and 2), we met our target to reduce CO2 from energy by 75% (versus 2008) four years early, we now have 36 of our 300 sites on zero emissions today, and by 2030 all our own operations will be emissions-free.

In arguably our biggest step yet,?we have embarked?on?engaging our suppliers,?whose?scope 1 & 2 emissions?form?our scope 3?emissions?– over?90% of?our?footprint. Through the Climate Promise and the Unilever Climate Programme, we are encouraging suppliers to?decarbonise?their?own operations and?supply chains, halving their emissions by 2030,?so that we can be net zero emissions by 2039.?

We already know the carbon footprint of 67% of all our?products, and?we are working on a meaningful way to communicate this and be transparent to all stakeholders including consumers. We believe that transparency is an important ingredient to drive carbon reductions and help people make better choices to lead net zero lives.?So?watch this space.?

If your glass is half empty, you would say Glasgow was disappointing. But if your glass – like mine – is half full,?you’d?look at it differently.?While governments will need to come back year after year with updated plans, businesses can also be at the forefront of change, harnessing technology and calling on policy makers to do more.?

You can be assured that the Unilever team is fully committed to deliver our part of the journey, and looking at our teams across 190 countries, I know that?we’re?in good hands. They will continue to push, to innovate, and to keep generating new ways to do the perceived impossible.?