CRU: COP26 – Crunch Time for Commodity Markets?

By CRU Economist Frank Eich, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook

COP26, the first Conference of the Parties since the outbreak of the pandemic, is widely seen as an important follow-up to the 2015 Paris Agreement. In 2015 countries committed to carbon reduction targets in the form of nationally-defined contributions. Expectations are high that governments will agree to even more ambitious carbon reduction targets at COP26. But even in the absence of any political agreements – previous COPs have not always lived up to expectations – capital markets initiatives in combination with corporate commitments will put increasing pressure on the commodities industries to embrace the transition to a low carbon economy.