Call a COP

After watching the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26, for days to get an idea of what happened, a lot of us, now that it's over, are wondering . . . what happened.

It doesn't look like much did.  There was just a lot of pledging.

According to Wikipedia, the agreement reached at the end of COP26 included pledges to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 (which accounts for 90% of current global greenhouse gas emissions, pledges to reverse deforestation by 2030, pledged to stop funding the use of coal in "developing" (read Third World) countries, and a promise - a promise, not a pledge, so it must be worth something, from India to get half of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.  There were also commitments from automakers and auto-producing countries to make cars more eco-friendly, and I will address that in a separate post.

As or everything addressed here, well, pledging means little, just as pledging allegiance to the flag and pledging fidelity to a fraternity or sorority have become rote exercises, so it will be awhile before we see anything resembling action.  For now, though , I have hope that something good - something - will come out of this just-concluded conference in Glasgow.

And I'm still not sure I know what happened there.