COP 26 - cycling protestors gatecrash climate change conference

 

HG Wells, the English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian once famously said: “Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.”

Clearly this concept was not understood by the politicians, transport planners or engineers at COP26.

 

CHRISTMAS is coming

The goose is getting fat

And COP26 fell rather flat

So what happened at COP 26 last month, the Glasgow International Climate Change conference?

What exactly was achieved at a conference seeking a pact among nations to cut pollution to avert the worst of climate change. 

Did it give us cause to  celebrate this Christmas?

Well, it was a mish mash of “blah blah” compromise (as Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, the inspirational climate activist, put it) and it didn’t go far enough.

In the end too few countries committed to reducing their outpouring of pollution, which would have enabled the world to limit warming to the “safe” limit of 1.5 degrees, based on the pre-industrial levels.

That’s it in a nutshell. Keep calm and carry on fouling your beds that was the message.

However there was a little success on the cycling front, to the effect that cycling is now to be included in the Climate Change Transport Lexicon, under “Active Travel”, which recognises the contribution cycling and walking can make.

 But only after sustained campaigning culminating in  massive protest from cyclists on the streets of Glasgow.

The mere fact that the plonkers at COP26 had overlooked cycling and walking in their climate change transport equation shows, once again,

thinking bike simply doesn’t come easily to transport planners.

Instead, the whole world was be saved by the electric car and that’s it. 

e in the COP26 transport declaration

Even before COP began, Cycling UK had warned that cycling had been excluded from the agenda at the COP in favour of discussion on electric vehicles and charging points.

Jim Densham of Cycling UK tried to put a positive spin on the outcome.

 

“Cycling should have been included from the start, but instead of looking back at COP26 as "Blah, blah, blah – car, car, car", let’s celebrate a success won by thousands of cyclists who campaigned together with the overwhelming positive message that "This machine fights climate change", said  Densham.

Meanwhile, we can take comfort in the fact that in European countries like Denmark, cycling is at the heart of transport policy.

I was reminded of this after watching a recent TV documentary about railway architecture which included a look at the futuristic Metro station at *Orientkaj at Copenhagen harbour, which opened in March 2020.

Broad cycle lanes leading to  Orientkaj station in Copenhagen.

What struck me was when the Danish spokesman talked about access to the Orientkaj station, cycling was the first thing he mentioned, before buses, trams and cars. 

And behind him, clearly visible running directly towards the new station  could be seen two very wide cycling lanes, each about the width of two cars! Planned and executed from the outset, not squeezed in as an afterthought, as so often happens in the UK, if we’re lucky!

 

* Orientkaj station is “anchored by bold concrete claws onto the Copenhagen harbour”. It is designed as a glass, concrete, and aluminium box commanding panoramic views over the Orientkaj dock. The brutal outside appearance is contrasted with “detailing inside, from the lighting to the material palette”. In other words, a warm and attractive place.