COP26 was the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to November 12. Leaders from across the world came together and deliberated upon several issues, with setting an emission target for each country remaining the prominent topic. The summit called for a phasing down of coal-based power generation. It targeted global warming not to exceed 1.5 degrees C and got about 140 countries to announce target dates for bringing down emissions to net zero. India announced its net zero target by 2070 (net zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere) and also urged developed countries to deliver on their promise of climate financing. With the U.S. having rejoined the Paris Deal in 2021, it unveiled a surprise climate pact with China to accelerate climate action this decade.
The agreement pledged to significantly increase money to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate change and make the switch to clean energy.
There’s also the prospect of a trillion dollar a year fund from 2025 – after a previous pledge for richer countries to provide $100bn (£72bn) a year by 2020 was missed.
While some observers say the COP26 agreement represented the “start of a breakthrough”, some African and Latin American countries felt not enough progress was made.
World leaders agreed to phase-out subsidies that artificially lower the price of coal, oil, or natural gas.
However, no firm dates have been set.
The world’s biggest CO2 emitters, the US and China, pledged to cooperate more over the next decade in areas including methane emissions and the switch to clean energy.
China has previously been reluctant to tackle domestic coal emissions – so this was seen as recognising the need for urgent action.
Financial organisations controlling $130tn agreed to back “clean” technology, such as renewable energy, and direct finance away from fossil fuel-burning industries.
The initiative is an attempt to involve private companies in meeting net zero targets.
However, some environmental organisations have said without a greater commitment to ending support for fossil-fuels, this could be little more than a PR exercise.
Credit : BBC
Picture Credit : Google
