COP26: Kenya disappointed with 'two-faced' climate change talks

Kenya has expressed disappointment with the direction negotiations are going at the annual United Nations conference on climate change in Glasgow, Scotland, and accused the wealthy nations of dishonesty and treachery.

As week one of COP26 (Conference of the Parties) draws to a close, Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko says the draft negotiating text remains heavily bracketed, which is worrying. This means that the words in the brackets are heavily contested.

“We must lower our expectations on the outcome on this COP, because our negotiators are telling us things are not going well. This is quite upsetting. As a country, we suffer serious impacts of climate change and all we want is fairness, accountability and responsibility,” said CS Tobiko.

“It is very upsetting that parties have put on ice the agenda that seeks to recognise Africa’s special circumstance and vulnerabilities to climate change, which slows down the momentum of adaptation and mitigation."

During these climate talks, having a draft negotiating text that is heavily bracketed is quite common, but most of the issues in the brackets are dealt with before the document is sent to the ministerial in the second week of the COP.

“With a lot of issues unresolved by the negotiators, we as the ministers have our work cut out for us next week. The plan is not to get emotional because this is an emotional issue and it’s difficult not to get emotional. We have lives at stake. Livelihoods,” CS Tobiko said.

The CS has also accused rich countries of double speak, whereby the words they utter don’t match their actions.

“Out here the leaders are saying we must take action, but when we get into the negotiating rooms, they adopt positions that are the exact opposite of what they are saying. They are the ones giving us a hard time in there. This means we cannot trust them and how do you relate with someone you cannot trust?” the CS added.

“Even when the presidents and world leaders spoke in the first two days of this COP, they said nothing new. It was the same story of geopolitics where the dominant ones want to keep dominating, and no one wanting to actually take action,” said Dr Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.

“We are telling them that we have seen the science, published by their own scientists and we now want them to use the same science and take the necessary action.”

One of the issues that is hotly contested is the matter of climate finance, where the rich countries pledged a $100 billion funding each year for adaptation and mitigation activities in the developing world. But Kenya says these same rich countries are shifting goal posts on when this money can be availed, despite a report revealing that the cost of adaptation will surpass the $100 billion by up to 10 times.

“They are now saying the earliest they can meet that target is around 2023 to 2025. Come on, we don’t have the time to wait that long.”

“If you look at our climate change adaptation plan (Nationally Determined Contribution), it is dependent on the industrialized countries providing the resources. We require trillions of shillings to meet out NDC’s commitments. We can have the best plans in the world, but without money, we can’t do much,” said Dr Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.

So far, Kenya has engaged in numerous bilateral talks on the sidelines of the COP. On Thursday, the Ministry of Devolution said the World Bank has extended a $400 million grant to counties for climate activities. Tobiko, however, said the funding is not new money and that it is for an already existing project.

 “We are yet to make concreate headway towards unlocking fresh climate financing for us. Yes, we have to lower our expectations, but that does not mean we are giving up. We cannot afford to give up because Kenyans are depending on us to find the solutions to the changing climate.”

Beginning Monday, environment ministers from around the world will now take over the negotiations of a new climate deal, and Kenya says despite the disappointments so far, it will soldier on until the last minute.