Role at COP26 - Binura attended the COP26 as the energy lead of the climate expert delegation for state of Ceará in Brazil. Ceará officially announced its carbon neutral efforts by 2050 at COP26. The Centre for Environmental Peace Building (CEPB) provided the technical expertise to Ceará to develop its Net Zero strategy. CEPB is a young and energetic team composed of experts in the climate related fields from around the world. CEPB is based in Massachusetts - USA whose objective is to provide expert support to the underdeveloped climate vulnerable communities. UNFCCC accredited CEPB for its support in a number of such communities in Brazil, Chad, Niger and Bangladesh since its inception in 2017.
What happened at COP26 - COP26 might possibly be the most important gathering of the century which will decide the future of the planet earth. Glasgow summit (which should have happened in 2020) was the 5-year review (Paris and NDC targets) agreed in Paris in 2015. With the red alert of 6th assessment report - IPCC in August and the climate situations worsening due to Covid pandemic more pressure was on the COP26 to take quick actions. Over 120 world leaders attended COP26 in person despite the pandemic and other challenges. The parties agreed to many important decisions such as to accelerate coal phase out, support reduction of deforestation, curb methane, mobilize 100B USD climate fund smoothly, long-lasting article 6 issue to re-activate carbon markets, support loss and damage etc. However, there is still a lot of criticism as even the best case (predicted by NDCs) will only end up at 2.4 oC by end the end of century. During the 2 weeks of COP26 I was able to attend a number of presidency events, pavilions events, side events and negotiations meeting with top professionals and policy makers from many countries and international organizations such as the UNFCCC, IPCC, WRI, WGBC etc.
Sri Lankan Delegation - I had the opportunity to engage with the Sri Lankan national delegation headed by the Minister of environment - Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera and was invited to engage in discussions including the South Asian Environmental Ministers meeting during the COP 26.It was an unforgettable memory for me to be present at the Sri Lankan representative seat during the COP 26 President - Mr. Alok Sharma`s address of the coal pact where Sri Lanka is a ratifying nation of the same.
UN Climate Change - COY 16 (Conference of Youth) - I further received the opportunity to attend the COY16 – event for UN Youth Advocates for Climate Change. I was able to provide my insights and technical knowhow in the discussions leading to the topics, `The role of youth in climate change’ and `How renewable energies will save the planet’.
I consider myself very lucky and I’m humbly happy that I was possibly the only Sri Lankan to represent an international delegation as well as the first to attend a COP while being a student of PPRE. I’m much thankful to the CEPB team, staff and colleagues of PPRE, my mentor Iresha (PPRE 2003-05), family and everyone supported me in this journey.
- written by Binura Perera