Many of the commitments made in the 2015 Paris Climate Emergency Agreement have not yet been fulfilled, but international leaders are agreeing new agreements at the COP-26 Glasglow summit. On Wednesday, 450 private credit institutions from 45 countries announced that they will finance decarbonisation: They have committed themselves to allocating EUR 112 trillion to "sustainable projects". These include HSBC, Banco Santander, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, BBVA, J.P. Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ, Bancolombia and Bank of America.

The objective is to contribute with this funding to achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of the century and not to increase the temperature of the planet by more than 1.5 degrees by the end of the century, compared to the time before industrialization. "That money is more than it takes for a global transition," said Mark Carney, head of UN climate finance. He pointed out, however, that "there is money", but that it needs to be allocated "to zero-emission projects", he added. Carney has insisted that mechanisms will be required to ensure that money is being used in the decarbonisation process.

Promises yes, actions few

While representatives of the countries of the world are in Glasgow, many activists have taken to the streets of the city in protest. Environmental groups have denounced the "eco-appearance" of public and private institutions and claimed that "it is not enough to make compromises" at the summit. Greenpeace has criticised the fact that the banks that will finance decarbonisation rejected last month a roadmap presented by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to curb the financing of new gas, oil and coal projects.

The President of the international summit, Alok Sharma, has recognized that this year should go beyond the previous meetings: "Promises were made in Paris. Now, in Glasgow, we have to do it. For example, the 2015 Paris Agreement agreed that rich countries would allocate EUR 87,000 million per year to impoverished countries to contribute to the energy transition between 2020 and 2025. The rich powers have a debt of around EUR 17.3 billion, and Sharma has acknowledged that they will not be able to reach the promised figures in the coming years. The President has warned the entities that have made a new commitment that they cannot replace the funding pledged by the major economic powers to the impoverished countries.

The damage is minimal but the most serious consequences

Sonam p. Wangdi, which chairs the group of 46 impoverished countries, called for "global solidarity" with the rich countries at the summit: "The decisions made in Glasgow are going to affect our lives." He stressed that they are the countries least affected by global warming, which emit 1% of global emissions, while denouncing that suffering from the climate emergency is excessive. It strongly criticizes the rich governments: "Progress so far is disappointing and, in some ways, terrible," said the President of the European Commission. He has asked for more resources. According to the portal Eldiario.es, the UN estimates that vulnerable countries need EUR 259 billion a year to deal with the effects of climate change, far from what was agreed at the summit.