COP26 News review day 4
COP26: Nicola Sturgeon urged to intervene in policing of protests
FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to intervene to stop “over the top” policing of climate protests at COP26.
Environmental campaigners have claimed that there have been “numerous incidents” of abuse of power tactics by officers from forces all over the UK.
Around 10,000 officers a day have been deployed on the streets of Glasgow for the duration of the summit.
Activists have sent an open letter to the First Minister asking her to intervene to ensure the right to protest is upheld ahead of a mass climate march on Saturday, expected to draw in thousands and spark other protests across the country.
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Cop26 protest demands end to the hostile environment and the arms trade
A MARCH for peace travelled through Glasgow during Cop26 today, demanding an end to the hostile environment and the arms trade.
The demonstration, led by activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) and XR Peace, travelled from the Home Office to BAE Systems to highlight the links between the climate crisis, Britain’s racist immigration policies and the arms trade — and in solidarity with climate and war refugees.
The event featured speakers from the Faslane Peace Camp, CND, and participants from the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp.
XR said that Britain’s military-industrial sector annually emits more greenhouse gases than 60 individual countries — such as Uganda, which has a population of 45 million people — while poorer countries suffer a huge injustice in climate and conflict.
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COP26 officials on Thursday are heralding developments they say signal that “the end of coal is in sight”—but advocates for strong climate action suggest holding the applause.
“Agreed at COP26 is an inadequate agreement that allows coal to continue for nearly 20 more years,” tweeted Extinction Rebellion. “But that’s excluding major nations who refuse to sign at all.”
Among the key developments at the ongoing climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland is the new Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement signed by nearly four dozen countries, though notably not the U.S., China, or Australia——among the world’s top coal producers.
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COP26: UK has failed to lead on energy
The UK Government has failed to lead COP26 talks on energy because it does not practice what it preaches, the Scottish Greens have said.
Today’s announcements on energy include a coal commitment that excludes the biggest polluters like the US, Australia, China and India and overseas finance plans that won’t cover projects already in the pipeline, like the UK’s planned investment in a gasfield in Mozambique.
Commenting, Scottish Greens climate spokesperson Mark Ruskell said: “Today marks a colossal failure of leadership by the UK Government, just days after the Prime Minister flew from Glasgow to London on a private jet.
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Ed Miliband Says Ministers’ “Flirting” With New Coal Mine Project Is Undermining COP26 Progress
Ed Miliband, the shadow energy secretary, has accused the government of “double speak and double standards” after they announced a series of commitments at COP26 to reduce the use of coal despite “flirting” with a new UK-based colliery.
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Speaking to PoliticsHome, Miliband said the refusal to scrap the project was “undermining” their ability to press other countries to take tougher acion on phasing out the use of coal.
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