The general lockdown due to the dramatic rise of COVID19 has not spared even the COP26 in Glasgow, which has been postponed to 2021.
The Coronavirus emergency has blocked the entire world, drastically slowing down the global rhythm. All those activities – which are considered “non-essential” for human needs have stopped and, inevitably, the same happened for COP26 in Glasgow. The climate conference was planned to take place next November, now rescheduled to 2021.
Following the UN intervention which sanctioned the climate summit’s rescheduling came the statements of the European Commission, which announced its willingness to keep its commitments on the global climate agenda despite Covid-19. The summit was supposed to discuss the participating states’ commitments in compliance with the Paris Agreement, the greenhouse gas emissions reduction and managing finance, with the aim of fight the climate change. According to the delegated representatives, the postponement of COP26 does not mean any suspension of efforts on achieving climate targets.
Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, states: “As for the European Commission, we will not slow down our work domestically or internationally to prepare for an ambitious COP26 when it takes place. At home, we have put in place the key EU laws to meet our existing 2030 climate and energy targets. In the long-term, we have committed to climate neutrality by 2050 and proposed a climate law that will make this objective legally binding. The legislative work on this proposal has started, even in these challenging circumstances".
Among the numerous reactions to the summit’s rescheduling, Sergio Costa, Italian Ministry of Environment, confirmed Italy’s commitment to the fight against climate change. Associations such as WWF, Greenpeace and Legambiente say they support COP26’s postponement and sincerely hope that the time taken forcibly due to the pandemic can at least be supportive of achieving some of the climate summit’s goals.
In the meantime, confirming the intention to keep fighting against climate change, the central Executive has launched a cost-benefit analysis, which will be shown in September, to bring the EU targets set for 2030 one step higher: to reduce emissions by 50-55% compared to 1990 figures.
