What is COP26?
COP26 is a climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. COP stands for “Conference of the Parties,” and this year was the 26th annual summit. Thus, “COP26.”
In 2015, COP21 took place in Paris. What came out of it? The Paris Agreement—when countries agreed to reduce their emissions and then come back in five years with a new plan and new ambitions.
Who was at COP26?
Leaders in attendance include President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and several members of the royal family. The full list of world leaders in attendance can be found here.
what Were the goals of COP26?
The COP summits require almost 200 nations to come to one agreement—it is not a simple conference. This year, many leaders emphasized that previous conferences had not been ambitious enough.
At the opening of the summit, Biden said that the climate crisis was an “existential threat to human existence as we know it.”
The UN had several specific goals for the summit, which were as follows:
- Reach net-zero carbon emissions by the mid-century, preventing the world from warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- Adapt to protect ecosystems that have already been severely harmed by climate change.
- Developed countries need to keep their promise to mobilize at least $100 billion in climate finance.
- Collaborate, and work together as one world to fix the climate crisis.
What got done at COP26?
The Glasgow Climate Pact and increased potential to limit the growth of atmospheric temperatures.
What is the Glasgow Climate Pact?
With the Glasgow Climate Pact, nearly 200 countries agreed to “phase-out of unabated coal and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.”
This will be difficult for countries that still rely on coal generation; China pledged to stop funding coal power plants in other countries.
Other key events:
The United States agreed to lift tariffs on aluminum and steel produced in the European Union (EU). These products from the EU have a smaller impact on climate change than similar products made in China, which the United States will still place tariffs upon.
About 20 countries, the United States included, pledged to “stop public financing of unabated oil and gas projects by next year.”
Over half of the countries at the summit agreed to reverse deforestation by 2030. The United States and 11 other countries agreed to give $12 billion until 2025 to help other countries address deforestation. However, a similar agreement was made in 2014 with essentially no real progress made.
A date has already been set for COP27 to be on Nov. 7, 2022. The location is unknown.
Things that failed:
The UN hoped to set up a fund for “loss and damage,” and unavoidable effects of climate change. Wealthy nations (who contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change the most) would help poor countries curb the “loss and damage.” Instead of creating the fund, leaders and delegates decided to begin a “dialogue” about a potential fund in the future.
Many are disappointed with the outcomes of the summit.
“We’re all well aware that, collectively, our climate ambition and action to date have fallen short on the promises made in Paris,” said Alok Sharma, the COP26 President.
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