By 13th November, COP26 will be over. Thousands of delegates, officials, protesters and security men will be heading home. Boris Johnson, as host, will have proclaimed the outcome a great success and a triumph for global Britain. One hundred and forty countries or more will have made commitments to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 (or, in the case of China, by 2060). But what happens when the circus leaves town?
For each government, the challenge will be how to make sense of the pledges they have made. Very few have any idea of how to achieve what they are promising, let alone detailed plans. Even Germany, one of the countries where the public and politicians take climate change most seriously, will miss its emissions targets this year. In every country, new grids for the growing electricity market and new infrastructure for hydrogen could bring long-term benefits—eventually lowering prices as well as emissions. But it is not yet clear if consumers—and voters—will be tolerant of the resulting sharp increase in their utility bills.