COP26: The Grand Hypocrisy of The West
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The west is committed to self aggrandizing and lecturing everyone else while committing greater damage to the environment.
Scotland, the country which gave the world Sean Connery, Andy Murray, Gordon Brown, Alex Ferguson and not least of all, the game of golf, has been in the limelight for the past few days, playing host to the rest of the globe at the SEC center on the subject matter of climate change.
The conference is the very first time since COP 21 that nations are expected to step up their efforts in combating the effects of climate change. And this is coming after years of repeated denials and inaction by western governments of all stripes.
What’s different about this conference has been the presence of celebrities and CEOs posturing alongside world leaders talking up the need for everyone to do better. We have seen Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Bezos having one on one discussions with the next in line to the throne, Prince Charles, while enjoying the trappings of their privilege and the rarefied setting.
We should also point out that the rich and famous all without exception flew their private jets into Glasgow and the British Prime Minister, who could have taken the train to the north of the border, chose to fly instead, leaving considerable carbon footprint, but these facts are usually inconsequential to the wealthy and powerful.
What’s also pertinent here are those who weren’t allowed to participate at the conference, such as: Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland and Greta Thunberg, the face of the climate change movement, whose speeches and activism have upstaged the participants at the conference.
At the summit itself, a number of commitments were made. According to the Guardian newspaper, they are as follows:
· More than 20 governments and financial institutions, including the UK, US and Denmark, agreed to phase out overseas finance for all fossil fuels.
· Research showed that the world could be on track to limit global heating to 1.9C, if commitments from India and other countries on greenhouse gas emissions are fulfilled.
· Data seen by confidential sources revealed fossil fuel companies were using the energy charter treaty to sue…
