What results has COP26 achieved?

What results has COP26 achieved?

The United Nations Climate Conference COP26 in Glasgow ended on Saturday.

Two-week meeting collection Diplomats from nearly 200 countries refine the details of the Paris Agreement, maintain the hope of controlling man-made global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and set more ambitious targets to reduce emissions, adapt to climate change, and provide assistance for development China suffers the most severe climate impact.Scholars at Columbia Climate School Share their expertise In many events and discussions around these topics-learn more here.

How successful was the COP26 negotiation? “I would say this is a real mixed bag,” said John Flo, Director of the Institute of International Climate and Society, Institute of Climatology.

The general consensus is that countries have signed various commitments and agreements. Although they have promised to make much-needed progress, they have not done enough to reduce emissions and lack the details needed to ensure that words are translated into actions. Below, we will review some of the most notable promises and shortcomings of the conference.

Glasgow Climate Convention

Negotiators from nearly 200 countries have unanimously signed the Glasgow Climate Convention. In it, they agreed to intensify efforts to reduce emissions from global warming and called on rich countries to double their funding to protect poorer countries that contribute the least to climate change but suffer the most deadly consequences.

The new agreement did not meet the goals of the meeting.As the New York Times Point out, The agreement still does not know how much and how quickly each country should reduce emissions. The agreement does not provide a clear plan to limit warming to 1.5 degrees or even 2 degrees, and critics say it has not done enough to help fragile countries.

“For the first time in the history of COPs that fossil fuels are mentioned in a text, this can be considered a small victory,” said Melody Brown, The senior staff assistant of the International Institute of Climate and Society, “but this language has been played down by India and the United States, from’phasing out coal and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies’ to’phasing out unabated coal power and canceling Inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.'”

She added that although the agreement recognizes the need for richer countries to fund climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries, it “failed to obtain a loss and damage fund, which is the majority of civil society and the least developed countries.” Said that developing countries are still waiting for the USD 100 billion promised in the 2015 agreement.

On the positive side, the agreement reiterated the importance of tackling climate change and determined that countries are not doing enough to prevent global disasters. It called on countries to strengthen their commitments to reduce emissions by the end of 2022, three years earlier than the time previously stipulated in the Paris Agreement. Flo said that it consolidated the details of how countries submit and report climate progress under the Paris Agreement, which should encourage transparency and “make it harder for countries to fabricate their actions and figures.”

Promises and promises

Before COP26, the world is expected to heat up by 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. If countries implement their plans, the new commitments announced at COP26 — some of which are highlighted below — can limit the increase to 2.4 degrees. This is still too warming, but Flo pointed out that the Paris Agreement is designed to be implemented in a gradual manner that we have seen.

He said: “This year’s promise should be able to reduce the warming rate by a few tenths of a degree, and the next round should be further reduced.”

Quit coal

More than 40 countries Commit to withdraw from coalIt is the dirtiest fossil fuel in the 2030s and the world’s largest source of carbon dioxide emissions. Quitting smoking is essential to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“Due to the high emissions and high cost of coal, the phase-out of coal is a low-hanging fruit in climate policy,” Corey Silverman-Rorty, A researcher at the Sabine Center for Climate Change Law of the Columbia Institute of Climate Change, wrote in a recent article Blog postHe warned that the new pledges “set a vague timetable—major economies are in the 2030s or later, and all other countries are in the 2040s—so more specific deadlines may be required for the pledge to take effect.”

It’s worth noting that some of the world’s largest coal consumers– Include China, India, the United States and Australia did not sign the agreement, which will also limit its impact.However, the New York Times notes:

The Biden administration has indeed joined an agreement…by the end of next year, the financing of oil, natural gas, and coal from other countries will be ended. Unabated refers to power plants that burn fossil fuels and emit pollution directly into the air, without any attempt to capture the emissions.

End deforestation

Swear by more than 140 countries End deforestationThe transaction includes the United States, Brazil, Russia, and China, as well as other countries, which together make up more than 90% of the world’s forest coverage.British Broadcasting Corporation report The transaction includes $19 billion in financing, some of which “will be used in developing countries to restore damaged land, respond to wildfires, and support indigenous communities.”

However, Silverman-Roati pointed out, “In 2014, leaders made similar commitments in the New York Forest Declaration, but since then, the loss of tropical virgin forests has increased, while the increase in tree cover has been insufficient.” Needs Make great efforts to ensure that this new agreement achieves better results.

Reduce methane emissions

More than 100 countries have signed the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2020 levels.The list of signatories headed by the United States and the European Union is responsible Nearly half Of the world’s methane emissions.

Methane is a more effective greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but its residence time in the atmosphere is shorter-only about 12 years.This makes it an important goal to limit global warming in short term. As Reuters notes, “A United Nations report in May stated that a significant reduction in methane emissions during this decade can prevent global warming by nearly 0.3 degrees Celsius by the 2040s.”

However, China, Russia and India-the major methane emitters-have not yet signed the pledge. “There is still a lot of work to be done to expand the number of countries involved, to detail the ways in which countries have fulfilled their commitments, and to verify that reductions have indeed occurred,” wrote Silverman-Rorty.

Phase out new gasoline-powered cars

At least 6 major car manufacturers and 30 national governments have promise By 2040, gasoline and diesel-powered cars and trucks will be phased out. The deal includes automakers Ford, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Volvo, as well as countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and India.U.S., China, and Japan Not logged in.

Traffic accounted for 29% Of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and approximately 20% worldwide.

Sino-U.S. Agreement

China and the United States-the two largest polluters in the world- Announce An agreement to work together to reduce emissions in the coming decades. The agreement lacks details, but considering the competition between the two countries, it seems to be a promising result.

Net zero commitment

COP26 Chairman Alok Sharma pointed out that a few months ago, only about 30% of the global economy made the promise of net zero emissions in the coming decades.Now that number is close to 90%, the Washington Post report“In any case, this is progress,” Sharma said.

Braun said that these commitments now need to be transformed from mere commitments to detailed plans. “The net-zero commitment announcement must be accompanied by a real emission reduction approach and sufficient resources to be relevant-unfortunately, this is not the case in every country.”

What’s next

Braun said that in general, the negotiations that led to the New Glasgow Agreement were actually a small but necessary part of the Conference of Parties, and many climate actions took place at the local, regional, and national levels. “We are running out of time, and we have lost confidence in what can actually be achieved by passing a negotiation text that must be approved by each country.”

For her, the most important part of COP is what happens in corridors, streets and side events, not in the negotiation room. “COP is an incredibly unique bottom-up action incubator. It brings together activists, experts, civil society, indigenous communities and various stakeholders from all over the world, who bring and share their expertise and Experience, how to jointly develop strategies to develop, support and fund new partnerships, projects, technologies, capacity building programs, climate education, and climate empowerment at the local, regional, national and international levels. These are leading to direct support for adaptation and mitigation And the direct changes and actions of loss and damage targets, climate justice is a core issue.”

and Bloomberg News, Michael GerrardThe founder of the Sabine Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University said that what happens next depends on the circumstances of each country. “Promises made by countries will not automatically translate into actions. This requires new laws to be formulated at the domestic level. The key decisions are made in capitals, not at United Nations meetings,” he said.

Talk about it all?

Considering the voluntary nature of the agreement, the non-legally binding nature, and the lack of detailed planning, the results of COP and similar meetings are often criticized as “empty talk”. It remains to be seen whether the new commitments will bring about substantial changes.

But in the words of the U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry, as in Washington post“The other option is that you don’t say anything and you do nothing. You don’t have any promises. You don’t have any promises. And you just sit there waiting for the flood.”

As the meeting drew to a close, Sharma Said The meeting has fulfilled its promise to “keep alive” with the hope of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. “But the pulse is weak. Only if we keep our promises can it survive.”