Loughborough: COP26, which takes place at Glasgow, is the latest in a series of meetings through which the world government deals with climate change.
COP stands for “Conference of the Parties”: 197 These parties are UN member countries, plus several non-UN member countries and the European Union, all of which support the climate change framework convention.
It was founded in 1992 to regulate the global response to what most people did later are called “greenhouse effects”.
This is COP26 just because this is the 26th meeting.
The location of the COP meeting changes every time.
The last meeting was in Madrid in 2019.
There was no police in 2020 because of Covid-19.
The most important police so far are the 2015 meeting in Paris, who agreed to “limit global warming to far below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably up to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels”.
It is possible to set a target like this because scientific research has recognized a close relationship between the amount of carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere and the average temperature.
To achieve the target “far below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius” The Paris Agreement is committed to “reaching the global peak of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to reach the world of neutral climate in the mid-medieval”.
The main task for COP26 is to follow up on this commitment and produce a realistic plan to reduce global carbon emissions to a level that holds the 21st century global warming as close as possible by 1.5 degrees Celsius.
As you can imagine, get 197 different countries, all with their own circumstances and interests, to approve the plan indirect: After all, it took 23 years to get to the Paris agreement.
Most famous, Donald Trump attracted the US from the Paris Agreement when the President, although returned after Joe Biden’s selection.
So there is some uncertainty about how successful COP26.
The main method for reducing emissions is a nationally determined contribution (NDC) of each country: this is a climate action plan of each country.
For example, the latest NDC in the UK is committed to reducing the emissions of at least 68% by 2030, compared to the level of 1990.
The main problem faced by COP26 is that the combined NDC of all parties is not enough to meet the target of 1.5 degrees Celsius from the Paris agreement.
If you combine all current plans and promises contained in NDC, they will lead to a global temperature increase of 2.4 degrees Celsius in 2100 and if you see actual emissions now, they will lead to an increase in global temperatures 2.9 degrees Celsius on 2100.
So there is a need for a lot of enhanced NDC, plus an effective way to ensure that the countries really cut all the emissions they promised.
One of the most important ways is for rich countries to provide financial support to enable less-rich countries to cut emissions, which are an important part of the Paris agreement but have not fully acted yet.
Why these things are important because this window quickly closes the Paris Agreement target 1.5 degrees Celsius: If emissions do not fall very quickly, immediately, too much carbon will be added to the atmosphere so that the temperature remains higher.
The current emissions need to be halved by 2030 to have a chance around 50:50 to maintain 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The longer the world delays before cutting emissions, both harder cuts need to meet the target, or the target will be missed at all.
The Paris agreement explains because the world of Celsius 1.5 degrees is safer than the world of Celsius 2 degrees.
For example, the proportion of global populations exposed to severe heat is at least once every five years almost three times higher at 2 degrees Celsius compared to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Corn harvest reduction in tropical areas more than twice as large as 2 degrees Celsius and coral reefs will be largely removed.
If COP26 doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean that we are destined.
But it will make it more difficult to avoid the worst effects of climate change, such as drought, heat waves, floods and rising sea.
Maybe it’s best to see COP26 as part of a long-term project to keep the earth safe and worthh to everyone, and the more successful it is, the easier.
Source: conversation.