LGI arrived yesterday at COP26 in Glasgow after a long journey by train from Paris, welcomed by many signs featuring messages thanking passengers arriving at the station for taking the train. This year, LGI is representing the Horizon 2020 project CLEARING HOUSE on urban forest nature-based solutions and will be sharing the results of the Network Nature taskforce III work on nature-based solutions (NBS business model publication and Nature-based economy white paper), as well as updates on its other 20+ EU ongoing projects.

We’ve arrived halfway through COP26 amidst tremendous debate on the success of the Summit. A lot of commitments have already been made the first week to target the 1.5 degree objective and to tackle the key priorities of this COP – “coal, cars, cash and trees” as summarized by Boris Johnson in his slogan. Often, the commitments made regarding deforestation, coal, methane and finance come from the most polluting countries, and in terms of reaching net zero targets, are still insufficient. We know that there is still a lot to do to secure the Paris Agreement and go beyond the blah-blah-blah condemned by the massive youth upsurge. We need to go faster, in a collaborative and structured way across all stakeholders: the UNFCCC, the government representatives, private sector, funders, public sector, academia, civil society, indigenous people….  #TogetherForOurPlanet

We also look forward to the positive emulation happening in the COP premises next to the negotiations. Successful project results, innovations and green/grey technologies are shared, new collaborations and partnerships are built, and very diverse stakeholder interests, including indigenous representatives and minority groups, are addressed during hundreds of side-events and encounters. Each year this is a very positive aspect of the COP which isn’t mediatized and that shows how much progress is being made on all fronts.

We will soon be sharing our thoughts on the outcome of COP26. Meanwhile most of the Summit can be followed online!