To this point, countries established the “Green Climate Fund” in 2010 (prior to the Paris Agreement), with a goal of funding it to the tune of $100 billion per year by 2020. Why should rich countries be allowed to pollute freely, and right when poor countries are on the verge of industrialization, their progress must be halted in the name of solving a global problem that they had little or no part in causing?
Poor countries rightly point out that this is not fair. Many poor countries fared better in the first year of COVID-19, but are now being ravaged by the Delta variant – still unable to get access to enough vaccines that rich countries have a surplus of. This health disparity was even more in focus this year against the backdrop of unequal vaccine access. In this way, the global poor have subsidized the wealth of rich countries, but with their lives rather than their pocketbooks. The costs of that pollution were never paid – that carbon (and other pollution) went into the atmosphere, harming human health and warming the planet, causing gradually more severe weather events and rising sea levels that have and will continue to disproportionately affect the global poor. Over the course of history, rich nations were able to pollute freely in our early efforts to industrialize, catapulting us into a dominant global position economically. NRDC has a good list of them here.Ī longtime pattern in climate talks has been the rift between rich and poor countries regarding who is more responsible for solving climate change and who is more likely to feel its effects. There were a number of other side changes, commitments, and pledges signed by various countries and industries (including a weak commitment on EV adoption). Oil and gas, despite being responsible for the vast majority of non-coal CO2 emissions, were not mentioned in the Pact – though a number of countries and subnational entities formed the “ Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance,” with a view towards keeping their reserves in the ground. This sends a strong signal to the world that the coal era must end. Coal is responsible for around 40% of global CO2 emissions, making its elimination a top priority. The change in phrasing provoked quite a bit of consternation, and Alok Sharma, the President of COP26 proceedings, said he was “deeply sorry” that the new phrase made it to the final text of the Pact.īut prior to this Pact, there has never been an explicit mention of coal in a COP statement. Given that the world only has enough “carbon budget” for 11 years worth of polluting at current rates, a delay of five years in submitting updated plans would be too long, so this is a welcome change.Ī controversial late point of contention in Glasgow was the inclusion of the phrase “phase-out of coal power.” India lodged a late protest against the phrase, requesting it be watered-down to “phase-down,” which is what made it to the final version. Under Paris, countries would submit updates to their NDCs every five years, but Glasgow calls for updates by the end of 2022, just one year away.
One of the steps this Pact takes over previous agreements is accelerating the timeline for national climate plan updates. But right now, current policies put us at 2.7˚C. If all govts met their 2030 targets, we would have 2.4˚C of warming in 2100. We are currently at 1.1✬ above pre-industrial levels, and current pledges will result in us reaching 2.4✬ above pre-industrial levels – if we hit those pledges, which not all countries are on the trajectory to do.ĬAT global update: Glasgow has a credibility gap between talk and action.
The oft-repeated goal of these negotiations was to “keep 1.5 alive,” and many say that the negotiations did so, but only just – the goal of <1.5✬ warming is still on life support, and needs help. New Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs, country climate pledges) submitted this year bring us closer to the goal of <1.5✬ warming, but are still not enough. The new Pact moves forward timelines for updating national goals for carbon reduction and for the first time explicitly calls for a “phase-down” of coal globally.īut experts warn that the new commitments are not strong enough and will still need to be updated, as soon and as strongly as possible, if we want to keep warming below 1.5✬ above pre-industrial levels.
Little do you know 10 hours full#
COP26, the 26th meeting of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change’s Conference of Parties has ended with the successful negotiation of the Glasgow Climate Pact, which updates the landmark Paris Agreement with new climate goals ( full text here).
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