World leaders in Glasgow followed the California Democrat model: big talk, little action

Leaders and delegates from across the world heralded the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow as an imperfect victory. A flurry of new commitments and pledges to end deforestation and slash methane emissions were held up as signature achievements. Yet the culminating Glasgow Climate Pact falls short of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and averting climate catastrophe.

Instead of “phasing out” fossil fuels and ending counteractive subsidies, China and India gave ultimatums that allowed industry-friendly “phase-down” language to make the final draft. There was no fund created to help vulnerable nations already suffering from climate change mostly caused by wealthier countries like ours.

In essence, world leaders finally unified in recognizing the existential threat that climate change poses, but they failed to deliver an agreement that would prevent its most disastrous form. Meanwhile, more symbols of the impending future can be found in British Columbia, where a summer of extreme heat, mass death and destructive wildfires preceded the landslides and flooding currently afflicting Canada’s western province.

In many ways, what we saw in Glasgow was a page out of the California playbook. The pact mirrored a form of redefined climate denialism adopted by California Democrats, whose hyperbole and rhetorical alarm sounds good but routinely fails to produce the type of action required to lead a nation-state troubled by weather extremes toward a safer future.

The largest delegation at COP26 was from the fossil fuel industry, which — like California’s well-connected trades and building associations — successfully stopped stronger commitments to expedite clean energy.

This year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Democrats touted a $15 billion package to “tackle the climate crisis,” anchored by important disaster mitigation initiatives and comprehensive environmental protections that will make California more resilient. However, only $1.5 billion will be spent on greenhouse gas reduction, largely through deeper investments to support zero-emission vehicles. Even worse, $735 million to accelerate progress on clean energy goals and $1 billion to enhance transit and rail projects was deferred to next year.

So while California is doing more to strengthen our climate resilience, Democrats are doing much less to reduce the amount of carbon leaking into our atmosphere, and they are too cowardly to divest from the fossil fuel industry altogether.

On any other issue, progress is a worthwhile accomplishment. Watered-down police reforms still improve accountability. Banning single-family zoning at least allows more duplexes and four-plexes. Funding for motel conversions moves homeless people into safer shelter. Intentional forest treatment slows the spread of wildfires.

But there is no room for incremental progress when it comes to the rising temperature of our planet. Humans have already warmed the planet roughly 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 19th century, and U.N. researchers say the gulf between long-term net-zero promises and our current plans puts us on a track for 2.5 degrees Celsius — well past our nightmare scenario.

California sent an impressive delegation to Glasgow, a mix of top administration officials and legislators led by Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis — after Newsom infamously bowed out at the last minute. On a global stage, she rightly touted our air quality authority and enormous economic power to concurrently reduce emissions and expand the economy. In a COP26 press conference, state Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, promised legislation to achieve net zero emissions by 2035, 10 years ahead of the state’s current goal. If California is serious about climate action, passing this bill must be a top priority next year.

Hope is not entirely lost. Or, as COP26 President Alok Sharma put it, “We can say with credibility that we have kept 1.5 degrees within reach, but its pulse is weak. It will only survive if we keep our promises.”

California Democrats have shown how much they love making promises. But when it comes to cutting out fossil fuels, they are rarely kept. If COP26 was “the last, best hope” for climate action, further delay by California’s Democratic supermajority will help extinguish what little is left.