COP26 live updates: Methane and deforestation pledges highlight Day 2 of the summit

Day two of the COP26 leader’s summit promises a fresh wave of declarations from senior dignitaries and heads of state seeking to emphasize how seriously they take the climate threat.

But to young people already coping with climate disasters, the proceedings will be just more “empty speeches,” said 19-year-old Maria Reyes.

The Mexican teen sailed into Glasgow Monday night with three fellow Fridays for Future activists from some of the world’s hardest-hit countries: Jakapita Faith Kandanga, 24, from Namibia; Ugandan activist Edwin Namakanga, 27; and Farzana Faruk Jhumu, 22, from Bangladesh.

Greta Thunberg, whose solo climate strike outside the Swedish Parliament helped inspire the global youth movement, was among the crowd waiting on the banks of the River Clyde to greet them.

The activists chose to arrive via a sailboat called the “Rainbow Warrior” to draw attention to the challenges people from low-income countries have faced getting to this year’s summit. Several Pacific Island nations, which could be completely inundated by rising seas, have not sent full government delegations to the conference out of concern about covid-19. Many activists and members of civil society groups were unable to get vaccinated in time for the meeting. The world’s poorest and most vulnerable people could not afford to attend a conference in a city where the price of some hotel rooms have skyrocketed to more than $1,000 a night.

Yet these are the people who are losing homes in flash floods and wildfires, who face starvation as climate change shifts weather patterns and imperils crops, the activists argued. Young people — not the leaders speaking inside the conference center — will live to see the consequences of whatever decisions are made during the next two weeks.

“Our stories have the true meaning of what the climate crisis means,” said Eric Njujuna, a Kenyan 19-year-old. “They matter more than whatever Boris Johnson or whoever is at the conference might say.”

Many young activists expressed frustration with the long-term targets presented by government officials. United Nations climate negotiations have been going on longer than most of them have been alive, the activists noted. To them, pledges to reaching net-zero by 2050, 2060 or 2070 — by which point most political leaders will be long gone — just looks like kicking the can further down the road.

An open letter from Fridays for Future activists calls for immediate emissions reductions, an end to fossil fuel investments and more transparent methods for calculating greenhouse gases. It also demands that wealthy countries follow through on unmet pledges to provide $100 billion in climate finance to help developing nations curb emissions and adapt to climate impacts.