EDITORIAL - Not showing up speaks volumes

The 26th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP26) is in full swing in Glasgow, Scotland, with reducing greenhouse gases that cause climate change on the table.

In particular, the conference seeks a way to limit the rise in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees; the consequences of failing to do so would be disastrous worldwide.

Many see this conference as the last best chance to help reverse climate change before it becomes irreversible.

Most of the major global economies are in attendance. However, noticeably absent during the conference are leaders from China and Russia.

It is easy to see this as another dig at China, but the fact remains that China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, followed by the US, the European Union, India, and then Russia.

While the rest of the top five have leaders or representatives at the summit, China and Russia don’t. China did, however, send a list of commitments to the conference.

Talk is cheap, actions speaks louder than words. The fact that their leaders have decided it was not important enough to attend speaks volumes.

It cannot be denied that China and Russia, despite the authoritarian tendencies shown by their leaders, have their own clique, their own cadre of countries that look up to them as a regional leader.

If these two trivialize something as important as climate change it is likely that their followers will pick up on their attitude and have the same sentiments.

It not just that, in not showing up, it is also likely that their leaders won’t commit to anything decided during the conference. They will say they never agreed to them or are not bound by them. So it will be business as usual for two of the top five carbon dioxide emitters on the planet.

It is easy for the climate problem to be overlooked and overshadowed by this ongoing pandemic and its present concerns. However, like the ongoing pandemic, it is one problem that will make itself felt when we least expect it.