Time is running out. World leaders are gathering at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow to try and seal a deal on cutting global emissions. Much work towards has already been done behind the scenes, but the success of COP26 is certainly not guaranteed.

What would you say to leaders at COP26? Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are attending (though there are notable absences, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping). Decisions taken in 2021 will have an enormous impact on the lives of future (and current) generations. How can people make their voices heard on climate change?

Want to learn more about the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference? Check out our infographic below (click for a bigger version):

What do our readers think? We had a comment from Gregor, who wonders why COP-26 is being held in-person during a pandemic. Couldn’t it be postponed or moved online?

We also had a comment sent in by Helen, who believes that “Collectively, people can help hold politicians and companies to account.” Is there anything ordinary people can do to make sure COP-26 is a success?

To get a response to these comments, we spoke to Anna Staszewska, European Climate Pact Ambassador in Poland. We asked Anna what message she would send to world leaders at COP26, and how she would respond to Gregor and Helen.

For another perspective, we also approached Adrien Talvy, European Climate Pact Ambassador in France. What message would he want to send to leaders at COP-26?

Today, I’d like to say to leaders of COP-26 to keep up with their promises, to stop accommodating lobby from multinationals that are only interested in making profit, and rather be influenced by citizens’ initiatives so we can advance all together.

What about the comment from Gregor about COP-26 being held online or postponed during the pandemic?

I believe we’ve already experienced quite some tough months due to COVID-19, [and] quite hard sanitary measures have been put into place. Today, thanks to the vaccination, and with potentially some new treatments that may appear soon, we’re progressively going back to a normal life. So, what benefits would postponing COP-26 have brought, especially considering that COP-26 is an urgency? In my opinion, it’d be dangerous to postpone it for one or even two years because of the pandemic. And why in-person? Well, because we need to meet in-person, we need to exchange among leaders, institutions, NGOs in-person so we can advance together.

We also asked for a comment from Endri Haxhiraj, European Climate Pact Ambassador in Albania. What did he want to say to COP-26 leaders?

COP-26 should serve leaders as their last chance to do something for their people’s safety. Leaders should act based on the scientific data and invest in the base of the community: ‘Thinking globally and acting locally!’ People need to feel this!

Finally, we put the same question to Adam Harmat, European Climate Pact Ambassador in Hungary. What would he say?

Yeah, I think this is an easy question. Act now and don’t make only longterm promises. So, it’s very good that we have the 2050 climate targets for more and more countries, but we need very strong five-year or ten-year timescale plans and implementation. And that is really missing right now.

Do you want to get involved? Sign up to the European Climate Pact and pledge to take practical steps to help reduce carbon pollution on our planet.

What message would you send to leaders at COP-26? How can ordinary people make their voices heard on climate change? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!

IMAGE CREDITS: Flickr – (by-nc-sa) UNclimatechange
Editorially independent content supported by: European Commission. See our FAQ for more details. The European Commission (DG CLIMA) does not request, collect nor otherwise process any personal data from this webpage, neither directly nor indirectly. Only aggregated and anonymised data are provided to the European Commission. Any data provided by the contributor (you) fall under the sole application of the Privacy Statement of Debating Europe who is exclusive Data Controller for all processing of personal data, if any.

 

European Commission


37 comments Post a commentcomment

What do YOU think?

  1. avatar
    EU Reform Proactive

    DE Q: How can ordinary people make their voices heard on climate change?

    If scientists like “Alexander von Humboldt” some 200 years ago warned that humans had the power to upset the delicate balance of nature- how much has been achieved since?

    We hear about many political pledges since the 1970’s, followed by Cop1 to Cop26, while experiencing continuous economic growth, some wars & destruction in between (to keep the $ armament industry & employment figures up), former industrial revolutions being outdone by faster & more sophisticated ones, and population growth is driving demand in consumption to uplift more but destroy all.

    Only the pledges in $ billions & $ trillions, the %, & the dates are changing- while planet earth continues to lose more Brazilian forest, mines are digging out more minerals, land depletion increases & energy demand & unchecked pollution on land & water is growing.

    How best do politician cover up such near unsolvable human creations, while the money lenders continue to grow their fortunes?
    More Photo-shoots, while Tax havens remain untouched, because those using them are the decision makers & not the ordinary people.

    To be invited to question them- is adding insult to (peoples) injury.

    My A: nobody at COP-26 level would waste their time or show a serious desire to listen or take voters questions serious. It’s laughable!

    We can try to hold each of the EU27 nations politicians, the EU Commissioner & theEUP accountable- not anybody else. Never an absentee polluter like China, US & others outside the EU.

    It is banks, insurers and investors who pledged & splashed $130 trillion at their disposal to combat “climate change”. $$ money coming from where? The tax hidden $ ones in THEIR havens? And somebody believes THEY would listen to people’s voices? This is part of a political charade- not an utopian Netflix thriller!

    Environmental EU legislation has been decided, was ratified and will be implemented through EU legislation. That’s it!

    https://wecoop.eu/regional-knowledge-centre/eu-policies-regulations/

  2. avatar
    Крис

    The conference was so boring that even Biden and Johnson fell asleep. Even they don’t believe the eco-nonsense they preach.

  3. avatar
    Yannick

    Expectation: that they finally make the numbers match. What is allowed to be extracted should match the carbon budget left. Simple.

  4. avatar
    Pamela

    I can’t say no because I didn’t have any hope of them doing anything approaching even remotely useful

  5. avatar
    Stuart

    Emerge from Glasgow? Just more problems and a lot more propaganda.Meanwhile china has just burned how much coal?It’s not blah blah blah its more like yeah yeah yeah.

  6. avatar
    Jurgen

    real long term actions, recognize that the present economic system of intrest needs endless growth and that is the real problem. 2 possibility’s, gradually give up personal freedom to feed the desastrous beast ( which is now happening) or have some guts and change the system.

  7. avatar
    Leonard

    It’s all a con to take more money from your pocket

  8. avatar
    Peter
  9. avatar
    John

    What climate emergency it’s just another scam by the elites to take from the poor.I’m no scientist but doesn’t the sun have a big say on our climate ? So how do they know if it’s not the sun that is changing ie getting hotter or cooling as they have no way of knowing because they can’t get close enough to find out So to me its all complete bull and as with everything else going on in the world it all comes back to one thing the elites of this world the creators of all the problems we face.Maybe take the elites out of the picture and everything will return to normality.But with corruption people get bought and will push this bull and won’t lose a winks sleep in doing so.Time people awoke to the real problems I’m this world and it’s not the climate or covid

  10. avatar
    Lindsay

    Just another emergency to empty your pockets…

  11. avatar
    Stevie

    Biggest scam in human history.

  12. avatar
    Ross

    The climate cult modus operandi 1. Brainwash children there then be easier to control and make loyal soldiers later.2. Preach death and destruction, the end of the world if you don’t live how the cult tell you to live.3. Force donations via direct tax from all in and out of the cult to support its leaders.4. Sit back relax because if your a cult leader or senior member money will rain from heaven and you can live like a king.All cults are the same follow the money the truth will be found there as ultimately it’s the only god in town

  13. avatar
    Yannick

    Stop beating around the bush and make the numbers match: to stand a reasonable chance to stay below 1.5C, we have to limit fossil fuel extraction to about half of known extractable resources, and decide how to use the remaining 300Gt of allowed emissions to really ensure carbon neutrality at the end of the tunnel. That’s it really. Now go do.

  14. avatar
    Peter

    “Time is running out”. Less Leaders do, less harm for the entire civilization. The more political bidding, the more stupid decisions will be taken. As we can not rely on intelligence to meet politics somewhere in the middle, it would be best if you would suggest a necessary pause to let rational thinking regain political terrain, in stead of obsessive and pushy rhetoric

  15. avatar
    Olivier

    Stop importing low cost goods from polluter countries such as China..

  16. avatar
    catherine benning

    What message would you send to leaders at COP-26?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iC9Qi3y9q8&ab_channel=SEA

    Do they seriously believe their infinitesimal dysfunctional brain cells can decide the natural progress of our incredible Universe…The Cosmos, that rules our very being, is in need of their direction to adjust the future of our planet? That indeed, it can be and will be changed by their ultimate ignorance…? Study what it is you are trying to have an impact on, before you force mankind into following your utter madness..

    Education Education… Education, is mandatory for those who wish to lead our planet from idiocy to genius in one quick blow…..To rely on young people for PR entertainment, who resemble over indulged children, is not the way to go…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldLBoErAhz4&ab_channel=PBSEons

  17. avatar
    catherine benning

    What message would you send to leaders at COP-26?

    Here is amessage the world should hear according to the makers of this video..Especially leaders taking us forward to the next level of our evolution.

    https://stateofthenation.co/?p=95290

  18. avatar
    Olivier

    Yes one more fear spread by EU to control European populations.. History of the earth is full of climatic change..

  19. avatar
    Carlos

    “Leaders”? Deligates, they were deligated by the public to represent.

  20. avatar
    Yannick

    You are joking right? COP26 is that moment in time when leaders agreed to ditch their responsibility for acting upon the science, they agreed to literally putting us on a path beyond 1.5C warming, which is what every climate scientist says is the sure path to global ecological collapse. The outcome of this COP is despair and distrust. At this stage, it seems only more cataclysmic climate related events might be the only way to jolt decision-makers out of their inaction. The sad thing is, as these events unfold and happen more frequently, we also know our window of opportunity for solving it is closing. In fact, I think it is now closed. It’s not about mitigation anymore, or even resilience, it’s about survival. I know the numbers, I know the carbon budget left to stand a chance to stay below 1.5C. it’s as if those ‘leaders’ did not even read the latest IPCC report before attending COP26. It is shameful. But thanks for asking

  21. avatar
    George

    Help urgently Ukraine! Isolate Russia completely!

  22. avatar
    Olivier

    Start a new nuclear plants scheme stop the windmills crazy policy.. Stop to back electrical cars… Tax countries which are polluting such India Brazil China USA…

  23. avatar
    Yannick

    I second the words of Guterres: their abdication of leadership is criminal

  24. avatar
    Yvonne

    please continue to help Ukraine thanks

    • avatar
      JT HK

      Fuel the war or negotiate for peace?

    • avatar
      Yvonne

      negotiate Peace please..save the Ukrainians please 😃

Your email will not be published

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Notify me of new comments. You can also subscribe without commenting.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More debate series – The European Climate Pact Project – A series of citizen debates View all

By continuing to use this website, you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our Privacy Policy unless you have disabled them. You can change your cookie settings at any time but parts of our site will not function correctly without them.