![]() ![]() This requires greater action on mitigation and immediate concrete steps to reduce global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. We must keep the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius warming alive. (See: Do new climate pledges “keep 1.5C alive”?)Ĭoming into the talks, the UK COP26 presidency had set high expectations, calling for the summit to “ keep 1.5C alive”, with a focus on action to address “ coal, cars, cash and trees”. While the new pledges had increased ambition – shaving some 0.2C off warming, if fully implemented – the UNEP “gap report” just before COP26 had once again exposed the gulf that remains, if the world is to stay below 1.5C. (See: Leaders summit speeches and new NDCs.) India announced new targets at COP26, but has so far refused to formally submit them to the UN. Others, including Algeria, Iran and India, had stopped short. Some 151 countries had responded by submitting new or updated “ nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) to the UN – including China, just days before COP26 started. This year’s COP – the fifth since COP21 in Paris – were seen as particularly important, with countries due to have brought stronger pledges under the Paris Agreement’s “ratchet” mechanism. The economic impacts of the pandemic also cast a shadow, having reduced incomes, cut into government budgets and pushed many into poverty, particularly in developing countries. The talks had also suffered under the cloud of Covid, which first delayed them for a year and then, for months, placed a question mark over them taking place at all, let alone in person.Ĭontinuing restrictions due to Covid had made it impossible for some to reach Glasgow, while observers faced many challenges accessing the negotiations. ![]() In the months before COP26, people on every continent had felt the visceral impacts of a changing climate at just 1.1C of global warming, being hit by floods, wildfires, storms or heatwaves. Here, Carbon Brief provides an in-depth summary of all the key outcomes in Glasgow – both inside and outside the COP… ![]() The call to “phase down” unabated coal use is, nevertheless, unprecedented in the UN climate process. Much was also made of a last-minute intervention from the Indian environment minister Bhupender Yadav that saw language around moving beyond coal weakened in the final text. Others were disappointed that this COP once again failed to provide vulnerable nations with the money to rebuild and respond to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Whether they succeeded or not is up for debate, but the “Glasgow Climate Pact” that emerged from the summit was welcomed by many for its commitment to doubling adaptation finance and requesting countries to present more ambitious climate pledges next year. Meanwhile, the UK presidency of the COP had set itself the ambitious task of “keeping 1.5C alive”, referring to the stretch target of the Paris Agreement that will limit some of the most destructive impacts of climate change, if achieved. Under tight Covid restrictions that limited access for observers, negotiators finally brought discussions around the Paris Agreement “rulebook” to a close, including regulations around carbon markets and regular reporting of climate data by all countries. The two-week meeting was seen as a critical moment for commitments and action after richer nations had failed to raise the $100bn annual climate funding they had promised to vulnerable countries and the gap to staying below 1.5C loomed large.Īs record-breaking numbers of delegates gathered in the Scottish city, they were joined by world leaders inside the vast venue beside the Clyde river and huge crowds of protesters outside. The UN climate conference, COP26, finally took place in Glasgow, with expectations and tensions running high after a year-long delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. ![]()
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