‘Climate talk: COP-26: Bla bla bla or way forward?’

In November, the 26th UN climate conference (COP-26) takes place, at which 196 nations are due to make the Paris Agreement airtight. Having been postponed for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and amid unsettling news from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and a summer of global climate emergencies, the COP comes not a day too soon.  With less than ten years left in which to meet the 2030 climate goals, all eyes are on Glasgow. Will the COP be more than a load of ‘bla bla bla’, in the words of Greta Thunberg? 
Together with Jada Kennedy (Y4C), François Gemenne (ULiège, GIEC), Aissatou Diouf  (CAN West Africa) et Zakia Khattabi (Climate Minister) ​​​​​​​we look back on the COP while simultaneously looking ahead. Has any progress been made? Who spoke, and – considering the vaccine inequality that has made access to the COP a lot more difficult for some than for others – whose voices went unheard? 

Frank Theys’ art installation Chronicle of an Extinction Foretold helps us to visualise the abstract figures that researchers and politicians throw around. His images will guide us through the conversation.