COP26, Covid & Our Species

What we do to cause a climate crisis also increases the risk of virus transmission

- Shahid Jameel

The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, opened on Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland, with hopes of addressing key goals of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement, born in 2015 at COP21, aimed to limit global warming to below 2°C and preferably 1.5°C, because every fraction of a degree of warming is expected to increase loss of lives and livelihoods. At Paris there was agreement to fast-forward national emission reduction plans and support low-income countries achieve their targets.

That COP26 is taking place at a time when the world is still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic is symbolic for the inequalities and science that connect the two most important global challenges – global warming and infectious disease.

For many poor countries, COP26 is taking place when they are struggling with access to Covid-19 vaccines. Though wealthy nations had pledged to help vaccinate poorer ones, the promises have remained largely unfulfilled. The People’s Vaccine Alliance reports that of the 1.8 billion Covid-19 vaccine donations promised by rich nations only 261 million doses or 14.5% have so far been delivered.