According to reports, the UNFCCC Bureau just decided to postpone the Bonn intersessional meetings from June to October and moved COP26 to 2021.
Please see the statement below from Director of Climate Research and Policy Rachel Rose Jackson:
“The COVID-19 pandemic is upending every aspect of life and laying bare the tragedy of a broken system that exposes the Global South, people of color, indigenous communities, and people with low incomes the first and the most. That broken system — which favors the elite few over the many — is the same system that has fueled the climate emergency and delayed the action necessary to address both these related crises.
Today’s announcement to postpone the climate negotiations cannot be misinterpreted as a delay in climate action or the international collaboration needed to deliver it. While public health must be the priority right now, the unfortunate truth is that any delay in action, albeit necessary, will mean those enduring the worst impacts of climate change now risk having to wait even longer for already overdue real solutions and finance they so desperately need and are owed.
Big Polluters are already leveraging this deadly pandemic to advance their agenda — from billion-dollar bailouts to deregulation. One of the greatest risks of this decision is that Big Polluters will also use this delay to further undermine climate policy at the national level and further erode ambition around the globe. In the United States and Canada, the fossil fuel industry and its friends in power have already been busy at work rolling back environmental regulations and locking in pipelines while the rest of the world races to save lives.
But, there’s another way forward: Instead of allowing this process to further unravel, and for the pandemic to give way to even greater injustice, we must embrace this moment to catalyze transformative solutions that people have long demanded and have at the ready. Vitally important issues are at stake and the demands from millions of people calling for real and just action are stronger everyday. We can and must address this pandemic in a way that truly transforms the systemic injustices that have also given rise to the climate emergency. The work in front of us is more important now than ever.”
