COP26's success rests partly on global climate fund promised in 2015 — and it's short billions

Climate scientist Saleem Huq says the world should prepare for a big letdown when the UN climate conference gets under way next month in Glasgow, Scotland.

One of the major accomplishments of the Paris climate conference in 2015 was the promise that the world's richest nations would contribute to a $100 billion US fund that developing countries could draw upon to help speed up their economic transition away from fossil fuels. 

But six years later, that pot of money still doesn't exist. 

"They just failed to do it," said Huq, director of the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development and a prominent voice on the topic in low-lying Bangladesh, which is especially vulnerable to climate-related emergencies such as floods and rising sea levels.

"That strikes me as being totally incompetent and negligent."

With time running out before the start of the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), host Britain has delegated the difficult task of trying to wrangle the missing billions to Canada — and Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson in particular.

Although he was re-elected in the Sept. 20 federal election, Wilkinson says he doesn't know if he'll be re-appointed to the environment portfolio in the upcoming cabinet. Regardless, he says he made the decision to head to Europe this week to try to twist some arms.