After a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) was held this year in Glasgow, Scotland, between the 31st of October and the 13th of November. The Conference of the Parties or COP comes under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where world governments and leaders convene annually to forge a global response to the climate emergency. This was the first conference that was held following the Paris Agreement of COP21, where the parties were expected to engage in the "ratchet mechanism" i.e. the countries were to return to the table every five years with revised commitments to mitigate climate action and reduce emissions through equitable means.
The primary goals of COP26 focused on four aspects: mitigation, adaptation, finance and collaboration. Mitigation refers to the securing of global net-zero and keeping 1.5°C within reach; at present, the world is not on track to limit global warming to 1.5°C and the targets announced in COP21 would now result in warming well above 3°C by 2100. This would further the rise of temperatures, increased flooding, extreme weather and the extinction of biodiversity, and to prevent such calamities, emissions need to be halved over the next decade to reach the current targets. COP26 also called for urgently adapting to protect communities and natural habitats, which are already experiencing the destructive symptoms of the climate crisis, and mobilizing public finance for infrastructure development and private finance for technology and innovation, all of which will aid in transforming billions of public money to trillions in total climate investment. In addition to this, the conference also emphasized on global collaborative efforts in achieving these goals as it is the combined powers of governments, businesses, civil societies and communities that will drive the progress towards achieving these climate goals within the upcoming decade.
Over the course of the summit, the conference itself came under much scrutiny, particularly highlighting the allegedly hypocritical actions of the parties taking part in it. Over 100 private jets were reported to have been used in transporting world leaders to the summit and though the event planners emphasized on being carbon neutral, the menus at the conference featured almost 60% meat and dairy dishes. Countries such as China and Russia were also absent from the summit, despite being the largest contributors to global emissions, and the conference famously enabled the billionaires and private businesses to take the stage while excluding representatives from indigenous communities as well as the Global South- two of the groups most vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis. The summit also failed to consider the inclusion of people with disabilities, with no wheelchair access or sign language interpreters. Furthermore, despite the need for de-subsidizing fossil fuels, several countries opposed it, even asking the UN to play down the need to move rapidly away from fossil fuels as to protect their fuel-based economic sectors. As a result, goals pertaining to ending fossil fuel subsidies, protecting vulnerable communities and putting a price on carbon, were not achieved and the newly established pledges were deemed as not considerate of the communities impacted by the climate crisis.
By the end of COP26, notable progress was made on cutting down emissions; 197 countries pledged to the Glasgow Climate Pact, a new deal aimed at staving off the dangers of the climate crisis and out of them, more than 140 nations guaranteed to reach net-zero emissions. This also includes 90% of the current global greenhouse gas emissions. This agreement was also the first-ever climate deal to explicitly state coal as the single biggest contributor to the climate crisis and aims to "phase down the use of coal." Additionally, high-income countries agreed to double the proportion of funding towards adaptation due to shortcomings in the previous promises of finance; however, this may result in inadequate funding towards cutting emissions as much of the climate funding is currently being utilized for renewable energy schemes. Furthermore, leaders of more than 100 countries with around 85% of the world's forests agreed to end deforestation by 2030 and India, a major emitter in the global market, promised to alter its energy requirements by half and begin the utilization of renewable sources by then. COP26 ended with the reaffirmation of the goals made in Paris in 2015, which was holding global temperatures below 2°C while pursuing efforts to limit rises to 1.5°C. According to the Climate Action Tracker, a research group monitoring government action to achieve climate goals, global temperatures will rise by 2.7°C by the end of the century with current policies. However, the temperature will rise by 2.4°C if only the pledges for 2030 are implemented and by 2.1°C if the long-term targets are also achieved. If all the announced targets are fully achieved, global temperatures are only expected to rise by 1.8°C.
Many climate activists and environmentalists agreed that the pledges made at COP26 do not take into account the necessary level of transparency nor focus on quality that is needed for climate action. The lack of comprehensive plans by the participating countries to change their current policies towards more sustainable alternatives, heavily implying that the event was nothing more than an expensive greenwashing effort. Protestors declared it as a failure for its poor organization and increased exclusion, citing the event as hypocritical as business and world leaders took the stage to discuss climate action while simultaneously being the major cause for it. While the conference did fall short in providing effective and comprehensive plans to combat the climate crisis, it is still believed that COP26 enabled world governments to take one step towards achieving 1.5°C; though the window of opportunity is small, it is worth noting that this is still the first-ever summit to directly and actively focus on phasing out coal and reducing emissions. Countries such as the US and China pledged towards joint efforts in combatting the climate crisis and consequently, COP26 was marked as a milestone in protecting, conserving and restoring nature to achieve the established goals. Nevertheless, the success of COP26 is still up for debate, despite hastening the need for climate justice, as whether or not humanity will survive the climate crisis, depends on the actions of all of us.
Sources
Comments