Octavia Feliciano
Staff Writer
Representatives from nations around the globe met in Glasgow, Scotland to discuss new measures to be taken to address climate change. This summit, called the Twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26), began on Oct. 31 and will continue through Nov. 12.
The United Nations reported the subject of discussion during COP26 will be global warming and the myriad threats it poses to the planet, with world leaders considering strategies to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The COP26 summit will be taking place only months after The New York Times reported carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached an all-time high this past May.
According to The New York Times, COP26 attendees include over 100 world leaders, including President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. Notably absent are President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, despite their nations being among the highest emitters of greenhouse gases.
The Times also reported Biden’s response to the absence of several key world leaders. “Not only Russia, but China, basically didn’t show up in terms of any commitments to deal with climate change. There’s a reason why people should be disappointed in that. I found it disappointing myself.”
As of the fourth day of COP26, Dr. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that, “all the climate pledges announced to date, if met in full and on time, would be enough to hold the rise in global temperatures to 1.8 °C by 2100.”
According to CNN, in September, the United Nations projected the temperature of the globe would rise 2.7°C by 2100 if there was no change in the world’s current output of greenhouse gases. If temperatures only rose 1.8°C, the environment would still be affected, but not as catastrophically. However, preventing the temperature from rising more than 1.8°C is contingent on COP26 pledges being observed promptly and completely by all participating nations.
Among the pledges made at COP26 is an agreement supported by the U.S and 19 other nations to limit funding for fossil fuel projects abroad, and another which seeks to decrease global methane emissions from human activity 30% by 2030. As reported by Reuters, this global methane pledge has gained the support of more than 100 countries.
The BBC reported the COP26 summit was originally scheduled for November 2020, but concerns about public health and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic caused COP26 to be delayed for a year. During the summit, world leaders will be expected to report back on the progress they have made in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and ceasing other practices harmful to the environment since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Maarten van Aalst, director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center, told the Council on Foreign Relations that a successful COP26 would result in “a sense that we’re still in it together as a world and a sense of a commonly owned agenda where we will continue to raise ambition over the coming years.”
