What is COP26 TED Countdown
Transcriber: Leslie Gauthier
Reviewer:
Al Gore: COP26,
the Conference of the Parties
on the climate treaty,
is where every nation
in the world comes together
to negotiate collective action
to solve the climate crisis.
Christiana Figueres: COP26,
which is the one that is coming up now,
in Glasgow,
is the 26th time that these governments
are getting together
to do, frankly, follow-up
to the Paris Agreement.
They need to come to the table
to report to each other
what they have done since Paris,
and most importantly,
commit to each other what further
efforts they’re going to do
over the next five-to-10 years –
the most decisive decade
in the history of humanity.
Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.: Well,
the first thing with COP26
that the average viewer should find –
there’s a lot of acronyms.
So, unfortunately, there’s one right now,
the IPCC:
Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change
did a report that said
that we had 12 years.
Now that was three-and-a-half years ago.
Gonzalo Muñoz: And COP26 is also
a COP that has been affected,
I would say positively,
by the last two IPCC reports.
Science spoke very loudly in October 2018
with the IPCC report of 1.5 degrees.
And just a few months from today,
we received this sixth report in August
that was named as a red code for humanity.
Those two reports
are allowing us to understand
the importance of following science
and the big risk
that we have in front of us
if we don’t follow the science,
as is indicated in those reports.
CF: The commitments that are going to be
made at COP26 are critically important
because they will tell us
whether we are on track
to the goal that has to be
reached by 2030,
which is cutting global emissions
from where they are today to 50 percent.
Xiye Bastida: The language
is not everyday language,
and it is the job of us as activists
to be communicators of the science
and of the decisions
that happen behind these walls.
The involvement of youth
is really important
because we bring the element of urgency.
And I think that including
indigenous voices is critical,
because Indigenous knowledge
and Indigenous philosophy of taking care
of Mother Earth as a reciprocal action
is part of the paradigm shift
that we need to achieve.
GM: Every one of us can and must
deliver actions at different scales.
Not only political leaders –
business leaders, financial institutions,
everyone that has a capacity
of taking a decision –
the decision-makers –
they have the unique opportunity of being
part of the most important challenge
that we have ever faced as a species.
LY Jr.: I hope you don’t lose hope;
I pray you don’t lose hope.
I’ve seen some of you want to check out.
Don’t check out,
don’t give up,
don’t give in.
Fight to the end.
Whatever you do,
keep fighting for this planet.
[Countdown]