Briefing Series: What Congress Needs to Know in the Lead Up to COP26

Find out more about the briefings in this series below:

This briefing explored cross-cutting challenges—climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, and pollution—facing the United States and countries around the world, and how policymakers are finding and implementing solutions to these challenges.

Distinguished Speakers:

Sir Robert Watson, lead author of the U.N. Environment Programme’s report Making Peace with Nature: A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity, and pollution emergencies, discussed the current and projected changes in climate and biodiversity and share the range of solutions that emerge when these issues are considered together in policy design and implementation. He is the former chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Former U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres discussed the opportunity presented by the upcoming U.N. climate change conference (COP26) and dove into ways governments and leaders can take meaningful action on climate change globally—an urgent need underscored by the findings of the Making Peace with Nature report. Ms. Figueres is a Founding Partner of Global Optimism, co-presenter of climate podcast Outrage + Optimism, and co-author of The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist's Guide to the Climate Crisis.

This briefing was co-moderated by Daniel Bresette, Executive Director, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, and Rosina Bierbaum, Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; School of Public Policy, University of Maryland.

Climate adaptation is one of the priority work areas for COP26. This briefing focused on the initiatives launched or scaled up in recent years that underpin the momentum on adaptation and resilience and that will inform conversations at COP26. Speakers discussed national adaptation plans, country dialogues on adaptation, early-warning systems, and locally-led adaptation. The briefing explored how these efforts advance work towards the global goal on adaptation ‘to enhance adaptive capacity and reduce vulnerability.’

This briefing is on building out electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Electric vehicles are crucial for decarbonizing the U.S. transportation sector, which accounts for 29 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions—more than any other sector. While electric vehicles have gained traction in recent years, insufficient charging infrastructure is a significant barrier to widespread adoption. The $7.5 billion allocated to charging infrastructure in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and existing programs like the Rural Energy Savings Program present a significant opportunity to deploy widespread and equitable electric vehicle charging infrastructure. 

How can charging infrastructure be rapidly expanded? What are the considerations for ensuring that charging infrastructure is accessible, equitable, and efficient? How can innovation improve charging infrastructure? Panelists will discuss these questions and the policy solutions that can help scale up electric vehicle charging infrastructure to drive down emissions. 

COP26 is set to cover a wide range of topics, from negotiations on carbon markets to discussions on loss and damage, climate finance, and updated emission reduction goals in countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This briefing brought together experts to explain the key areas of negotiation expected to be at play at COP26, reviewed possible outcomes, and explored what it all means for Congress. 

With dozens of events and negotiating sessions happening at any one time during the two weeks of COP, it can be challenging to keep up with all the details. This briefing will review the key outcomes of COP26 and provide context and nuance to the main headlines coming out of the meeting. Panelists will then dive into takeaways from international, private sector, and local government perspectives.