If not all the world's countries will be able to take part in COP26 due to the unequal distribution of vaccines, then Greta Thunberg will not attend either.
The issue of vaccine access is once again highlighting the inequalities between different countries around the world. While in wealthy countries one in four people has already received a vaccine, in poor countries only one in 500 has, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization.
This means that some countries will guarantee protection to their populations and will therefore be ready to ease restrictions and move more freely before others. One of the most crucial and eagerly awaited climate events is COP26 – the United Nations climate conference already postponed last year due to the pandemic and scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. All countries are called upon to participate in order to determine the next steps to tackle the ongoing climate crisis. But how will some countries be able to participate if they do not have equitable access to vaccines?
That is the question posed by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, founder of the Fridays for Future movement, who has declared she does not wish to attend COP26 if all countries cannot do so on equal terms. "By November, wealthy countries will have vaccinated healthy young people, often at the expense of at-risk people in other parts of the world," Thunberg stated. Her proposal to the United Nations is in fact to postpone it until everyone is able to guarantee their presence and representation.
"Inequality and climate injustice are already at the heart of the climate crisis," Thunberg wrote in a tweet. "If people cannot get vaccinated and travel to be represented equitably it would not be democratic and would worsen the problem. Vaccine nationalism will not solve the pandemic. Global problems need global solutions." The developing countries that might not be represented or be able to participate are, in fact, also the very ones that suffer most from the impacts of the climate crisis, despite being those who contribute least to it.
"Postponing COP26 does not mean we also have to postpone the actions we urgently need. We do not have to wait for conferences, anything or anyone to start drastically reducing our emissions." Just a few days ago came the news that we have reached unprecedented levels of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere: 420 parts per million (ppm). They have not been this high for 800,000 years.
According to scientists' projections, in the absence of drastic and immediate action by the international community, a doubling of CO2 concentration will likely occur around 2060. At the same time, an increase in global mean temperature, across the surface of the oceans and landmasses, is expected that could range from 2.3 to 4.5 degrees centigrade. These figures are far removed from those set by the Paris Agreement during COP21 in 2015: limiting global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees, while staying as close as possible to 1.5 degrees.
Solidarity and action can start today
Greta Thunberg, activist
