Mercy Global Action Report on COP26

Mercy Global Action is pleased to share its report on MIA participation at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland this past November. The report includes analysis on priority advocacy topics, summaries of COP events and activities, information about COP26 outcomes, and what to bring forward into COP27 in 2022.

While governments and other stakeholders, including private sector actors, made some positive commitments during COP26, the level of ambition is still not high enough to meet the 1.5⁰C temperature target set out by the Paris Agreement in 2015. The period leading up to COP27 has to be about meeting promises. It is up to governments and stakeholders to deliver and build on the commitments made at COP26, and it is our role as members of civil society to ensure that as the spotlight shifts away from COP, the pledges are not forgotten. 

It is up to us to pressure our governments outside of COP, at the national level, to ensure our priorities remain on the agenda. Finance, especially loss and damage and aid to developing countries, must take center stage in the year ahead. Countries with weak 2030 emission targets must be pushed to revisit these by COP27 in 2022. Countries must also follow through with side-declarations like the ones on methane, deforestation, and fossil fuel financing. People around the Mercy World are encouraged to follow up with their governments about the commitments (or lack thereof) made during COP26, and urge them to deliver on their promises.

As we shift to focus our attention on COP27 in Egypt, we hope that this will be an important opportunity to bring about the real transformation that is deeply needed. It is up to all of us to call on our governments to establish even more ambitious targets at COP27 and each subsequent year. Despite the significant challenges we face and the technicalities of climate justice, we remain people of hope. We have a moral imperative to care for the most vulnerable and marginalized and future generations. This remains central to our work for climate justice.