While COP26 turned out to be one of the most exclusive UNFCCC we’ve ever experienced, the Youth4Nature Private Sector Taskforce was fortunate to share our perspectives with co-panelists Elina Bardram (European Commission) and Sam Barratt (UN Environment Programme), as well as other audiences, at the European Union Pavilion on November 11th. Félix Giroux represented us live in Glasgow at the event and throughout the entirety of the conference. Julia Bethe stayed engaged in COP26 from France and Emma Thornton followed the events from the USA. Following the conference both virtually and on-the-ground gave our team the ability to watch advancements unfold with both a high-level view that comes from tracking in a remote environment and the perspective of atmosphere and morale that one can only get in person.
The private sector and businesses had a strong presence at COP26, especially compared to other UNFCCC COPs. Many representatives from the sector had privileged access to pavilions and negotiations and abundant resources to engage the full two weeks. Similarly, the private sector has become more engaged in climate action (mainly to reduce portfolio risk) and strives to push ahead of diplomacy and policy. Because of this, and because there is still a gap in youth organization around the private sector, it is essential to have groups like Youth4Nature’s Private Sector Taskforce represented at COP26 to share our perspectives and priorities.
At the EU Pavilion, Felix did a brilliant job underscoring the value and key tenets of resource democracy and true sustainability in opposition to the current for-profit and extractive model for economic growth. The decision makers at the event shared that they have been impacted by youth engagement thus far, particularly through the Fridays for Future movement, and are looking for more ways to collaborate with and spotlight young people. Elina emphasized Felix’s points on greenwashing and agreed that while “expressions of intent are very important, we need to see the action and the accountability of that action.” Likewise, Sam reminded us that “we only treasure what we measure,” and that we should shift away from the GDP metric to one that values nature and people and argued that we need systems change and strong regulation to ensure, for example, that polluters pay for their negative societal and environmental impacts. While it was encouraging to hear that the EU and UN representatives at this event are aligned with our values and mission as a taskforce, there remains much work to be done not only to guide good faith businesses and policymakers and call out bad actors, but also change our economic systems as they exist today.
A full recording of the event is available on YouTube.