September 7, 2021
Amsterdam, Netherlands – Greenpeace and over 1500 civil society groups from 130 countries, members of Climate Action Network (CAN), today called for a postponement of the substantive negotiations of the COP26 due to the COP presidency and the UK government failure to ensure a safe, equitable and inclusive summit.
CAN’s statement [1] outlines how the COP presidency has failed to provide safe and equitable access to COP26. [2] The UK government is yet to provide Covid-19 vaccines to participants that have applied for them, and has failed to provide clarity around support for logistics and quarantine costs for delegates coming from a country on the UK government’s red list.
Juan Pablo Osornio, Senior Political Lead, Greenpeace International said:
“The COP presidency has failed to guarantee the safe and equitable participation of COP26 delegates, especially people coming from countries that are disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and the climate crisis. COP26 needs to be fair and accessible to deliver global climate justice. Expecting already disadvantaged people to attend without access to vaccines, healthcare, and financial support to overcome the risks of participation, is not only unfair but prohibitive.
“Regardless of whether the COP goes ahead, ambitious action on climate is urgently needed. It shouldn’t hinge on one meeting and we plan to use the UN General Assembly and the G20 to hold governments to account for their inadequate action on the climate crisis. The longer governments delay to honour their Paris climate commitments, the harder it will be to achieve the 1.5°C target. Every tenth of a degree of global heating is critical to human survival on this planet.”
“If the UK government wants this COP to be representative and transparent it must, at the very least, ensure that vaccines can be accessed and given sufficiently in advance to all delegates and provide financial support to cover the cost of hotel quarantine. More broadly, to rebuild the essential multilateral trust required for a successful COP26 will mean supporting the TRIPS waiver for a People’s Vaccine, delivering on commitments for climate finance for the most vulnerable countries, and kicking fossil fuels out of politics once and for all.” [3]
Greenpeace is calling for equitable access to vaccines globally so that people can protect themselves from Covid-19 regardless of their social status or location.