Can Cop26 Hope To Make A Difference?

As the leaders of the most powerful countries on earth come together for what has been heralded as a crucial last-gasp chance to avoid catastrophic climate change, I think we may be about to finally reach acceptance of what we really knew all along.

- Andy Phillips

It will be a realisation of the truth which we need to face, a proper comprehension of the problem in front of us: That our world leaders are incapable of committing to any genuine and meaningful actions which will really make a difference.

I’m sorry to be saying it, but I don’t think that Cop26 will be anything but a cop-out by another group of global leaders who want to be seen to be doing the right thing, but are just not capable of delivering anything more than a few warm words and hot air.

It’s easy to make the obvious but probably facetious comparison of the language of US President Joe Biden on being a world leader on climate change... as he arrived in a 43-car cavalcade. It’s maybe slightly less unrealistic to have expected better from our own Prime Minister Boris Johnson as host of the Cop26 summit than to have cut tax on short-haul flights in a budget the very week before the summit.