Scotia Group Writes Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Declaring a Diplomatic Emergency Alongside the Climate Emergency

The Scotia Group is proposing four ways COP 26 can bring real urgency into addressing the climate crisis:

• China and the US should seize this opportunity to act together for the good of humanity and agree to both a phased programme to close their existing coal-fired power plants, or to retrofit them with carbon capture technology, and a ban on the financing and construction of new coal plants.
   
• There is an urgent need for an energy transition diplomacy framework. Saudi Arabia should lead OPEC in halting new investment in additional oil production, a policy the US should support.
   
• Governments should both commit to facilitating a global $1 trillion energy transition fund to accelerate progress in cleantech investments and deliver on the $100 billion a year already promised by richer countries to poorer countries.
   
• An efficient and robust mechanism should be established to hold nations, institutions, companies, and communities accountable through domestic courts for the environmental pledges they have made.