Post-COP26: In conversation with Young Leaders
COP26 has now ended. It's almost been two months. As we reflect on our takeaways from the megaevent based, we spoke to another few young leaders on what they feel COP26 did or did not do for them and their industries. We interviewed a few of them and curated this article to provide an insight on their thoughts and reflections on COP26 that was held in Glasgow in November 2021.
We’d like to extend our gratitude to Barney Weston, Carys Mainprize and Sofia Koukoura for their time and insights.
Barney Weston
Let’s begin with Barney Weston. Barney is the co-director and head of communications at Football for Future, which is a charity based out of Brighton (England) with an aim to build and spread the word on a more environmentally sustainable culture in football.
They do that in 2 ways - firstly, by raising awareness between the sport and climate change and secondly, by supporting football clubs to become more environmentally sustainable.
They delivered a series of educational workshops to about 150 young Londoners through the mega-sporting brand Nike and their partners (casual name-dropping alert!) - Chelsea F.C, Tottenham Hotspur F.C, Football Beyond Borders and Bloomsbury Football.
Barney mentioned that there was heightened interest and awareness about sustainability in the game. On Sept 6, 2021 Tottenham Hotspur F.C in association with SkySports hosted the first “Net-zero carbon” football game at the Tottenham Hotspurs stadium in their fixture against Chelsea F.C in the English Premier League.
He says “We’re almost in injury time, but it's never too late to score a last-minute winner in 90+1 minute”. Barney also hopes that by the next COP summit, more football clubs and associations will have taken public action around sustainability in the sport. For Football For Future, COP26 was a golden chance for their whole team to meet in-person, and two-foot tackle climate change.
Their message to other young fans of the sport reading this is to think about how they and their club might be contributing to climate change and their next matchday.
“How did you travel to the venue/stadium? What are you eating/drinking? How is the food packaged/sourced? How long does the tap stay on? Where does the club’s energy come from to keep the lights on, cook food, operate all the tech equipment? Every little bit counts”
Carys Mainprize
We then spoke to Carys Mainprize who is based out of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland. Carys is a board member of the Dumfries and Galloway Queerier, an LGBTQ+ magazine by and for the community. She also works for a climate-change related non-profit.
Carys believes that climate change is an effect that is occurring largely due to colonialism and capitalism. As a queer person, she stands with other marginalised communities, and supports the idea that anything that tackles climate change has to also challenge colonialism and capitalism.
Carys had no expectations from COP26 in Glasgow this year, and claims that ‘keep 1.5 degrees alive’ was nothing more than a PR exercise. She says as much as she would have liked Scotland to be a champion for equality and Just Transition at COP, given the fact that most of the venues were not accessible, that wasn’t achieved either. Just transition above all, is about being fair with history, social and cultural influences, and marginalised communities. Capitalism and colonialism cannot go on with ‘business as usual’ after claiming that they’re trying to “offset” their carbon emissions elsewhere, says Carys.
But there is hope. There is more appetite than ever to tackle climate change from the bottom up. “There will be some regional steps to move to net zero - Dumfries and Galloway council, for example, have committed to being net zero by 2025, and so will be a big step forward in that journey by next year.”
Carys’ demands are that the Global North should continue following through with their commitments on loss & damage, that indegenous people be represented at the table for policy talks, and the acknowledgement that climate change - despite affecting everything in our lives - does not affect everyone equally.
Carys has an article in the Christmas issue of the D&G Queerier where she speaks in detail about her reflections on COP26, and wants to send the message that individual action is as important as collective solutions from the top 1% of polluters.
“Climate change is a consequence of colonialism and capitalism - anything you do to remove yourself from, change, or protest this is also fighting climate change. Do not let them make you powerless.”
Sofia Kokoura
We finally heard from our very own Sofia Koukoura. Sofia is a member of the 2050 Climate Group, and she was also a part of the organization’s COP26 blue-zone delegation. However, her full time job is working as a senior engineer with Scottish Power Renewables and implementing data science to track wind power efficiency.
Sofia, being a young leader herself, believes that there should have been more youth representation in the centering the climate justice talks and decision making process. She also expected that there should have been more emphasis and discussions through government support and intersection planning on the ‘Just’ part of the whole Just Transition in decarbonizing our society, especially in the energy sector.
She also supports the claim that Scotland, or rather the UK as a whole, has made a number of pledges but it all depends on the planning for the delivery of these promises. The pause in developments of the Cambo Oil field was a big step in the right direction. Furthermore, the UK should continue working on climate finance solutions, especially when it comes to delivering funding for mitigation along with loss & damage, and perhaps even provide international support on it.
On being asked about her thoughts on ‘Just Transition’, she said that it is a journey that involves the collaboration of a range of stakeholders and making our society more inclusive by building new values and abandoning consumerist practices.
Sofia was very pleased to be one of 2050 Climate Group’s 16-member blue zone delegation at COP where she felt she had the privilege and the opportunity to amplify youth voices across Scotland and those from the underrepresented Global South. She is also pleased that Scottish Power (her employer) was one of the principal partners of COP26 and that helped boost the company’s climate commitments and long-term sustainability strategies.
Her message for all young leaders reading this is we all need to be willing to keep learning, keep talking with our peers and family about climate change and continue to take action for our planet, no matter how small and insignificant it feels.
“We are bigger than the sum of our parts, and only collective action can help bring system change”