COP26 in Review
The 26th UN Climate Conference – the United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP26, has come to an end. At the beginning of November, the summit gathered representatives of different nations to come and discuss joint climate goals and determine measures to combat climate change. In the past weeks, there have been numerous reports about the Conference – but what is the real significance of the COP26 and, above all, what results were attained at the Climate Conference? We examined this in more detail and have answered some of the most important questions for you
What is the COP26 exactly and what is its significance?
The COP – also known as the Conference of the Parties – is the central instrument in international climate policy. This year it convened in Glasgow for the 26th time. The COP is the most important climate summit. Virtually all of the countries in the world take part. The respective representatives meet to debate and decide global, climate policy measures and thus the future of our planet.
Since when have these conferences taken place?
Since the beginning of the 1990ies, governmental representatives from all over the world have met to set measures against the rising impacts of the climate crisis. Thus in 1992 around 154 states decided on the Climate Framework Convention of the United Nations, also known as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or the UNFCCC. The states recognized climate change as a serious problem and committed themselves to implementing the Convention. Since 1995 the states have met – in the meantime we are talking about 197 contractual states respectively parties – to discuss concrete climate protection measures and on the other hand to decide on measures such as for example the Paris Climate Convention agreed in 2015.
What is the Paris Climate Agreement?
At the 21st COP in Paris in 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted. The Paris Climate Agreement’s aim is to restrict global warming to significantly below two degrees Celsius. For this reason, the States settled on the famous 1.5 °C goal – the goal to restrict global warming to 1.5°C. The Paris Agreement banks on national voluntary agreements, so-called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), i.e. planned contributions determined by the nations. This means that each country should declare on its own by what percentage it would like to reduce its climatically harmful emissions. Since the goals of the Climate Agreement and the measures implemented do not currently agree and the 1.5°C goal cannot be reached with the measures currently in place, further measures and adherence to the goals of the COP26 had to be discussed between the states taking part in the negotiations.
What themes were negotiated at the COP26?
In principle, apart from toughening the Paris climate goals and the goal of climate neutrality by 2050, the COP26 revolved around protecting ecosystems, putting a price on CO2 and the global coal phase-out. Likewise, climate financing was discussed. The goal is to make financial aid available to countries in the global South from public and private funds, to support them in reducing their emissions and mastering the impact of extreme weather conditions – since these countries bear the brunt of weather extremes.
What did the Climate Conference achieve?
In the run-up to the conference and during the actual negotiations, the Climate Conference was overshadowed by large-scale protests and criticism, that we are not reacting early enough and with insufficient intensity. Likewise, the final declaration, a document which was signed by the states participating in the COP at the end of the conference, was the subject of criticism. It was resolved that the global coal phase-out – i.e. the renouncement of fossil fuels – will be introduced step by step and the climate protection plans which will implement the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement are not extensive enough and should be voluntarily toughened by 2022. In the same way the countries of the global South, who already face frequent and longer droughts and heat waves or have to battle more severe storms and flooding, were promised a doubling of financial aid - from 20 to around 40 billion US dollars. You will find further results from the COP26 here.
Despite major criticism, the COP26 implemented further important steps in the fight against the climate crisis, and yet there is still a lot of hard work for us to do for climate protection – in our everyday lives as individual consumers and at the state and global level. #ItsInOurHands
Further links:
HOME - UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) at the SEC – Glasgow 2021 (ukcop26.org)
https://www.carbonbrief.org/cop26-key-outcomes-agreed-at-the-un-climate-talks-in-glasgow
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