WORLD leaders, tasked with getting to grips with the climate crisis, are to gather in Glasgow next year for the 26th Conference of the Parties – COP26. Here are the key issues which will up for discussion when the summit commences in the autumn.
Climate ambition
The Paris Agreement kicks in during 2020 and yet countries’ pledges to reduce their emissions currently fall far short of the 1.5C target the world’s nations signed up to in 2015.
So far only 80 nations have pledged to enhance their commitments, and none are major emitters such as China.
Glasgow is crucial in pushing all nations to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier.
Climate finance
Ten years ago at the Copenhagen climate talks, rich countries pledged to deliver $100bn a year in climate finance to the global south by 2020.
Only a fraction of that finance – which is essential to enabling developing countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change and mitigate their own emissions – is on the table so far.
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Loss and damage This mechanism aims to address the issue of compensation when it is no longer possible to adapt to the impacts of climate change, a reality many nations and communities are already beginning to face.
Some progress was made at Madrid but it was largely considered disappointing and will be revisited in Glasgow.
Carbon markets
The idea behind this system is that the most polluting countries can purchase the right to pollute more from countries that have not reached their emissions limits.
But it’s highly contentious as they fail to deliver real emissions reductions and strengthen the power of corporations.
An attempt to agree on the rules here broke down at Madrid. It is claimed that doing the groundwork on these outstanding issues before COP 26 will be key.
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