Will COP26 Fulfill the Paris Agreement?

The Guardian reports that COP26, a two-week major global climate summit in Glasgow this November, will not fulfil the Paris Agreement.

The United Kingdom hosted COP26, which was attended by 30,000 participants. Campaigners and some countries will be disappointed, as the hoped-for outcomes will fall short. Emission pledges from all major economies through their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), collectively, will not be enough to cut emissions in half needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

However, the United Nations, the UK, and the US remain optimistic that the 1.5°C limit is achievable through the “Glasgow pact.” The pact will allow countries to update their emissions pledges within the next few years to keep warming within 1.5°C.

A senior UN official said, “We are not going to get to a 45% reduction, but there must be some level of contributions on the table to show the downward trend of emissions.”

Lord Nicholas Stern, the climate economist, says that falling short of emissions plans does not mean failure. Instead, we should hope for good progress in closing that gap between now and 2021.

The article notes that while the UK, the US, and the EU have submitted their NDCs, China, the world’s biggest emitter, has yet to submit an NDC. It has only indicated that its emissions will peak by 2030, which is not enough to limit warming to 1.5°C, experts say.

This year’s climate summit is more urgent than ever as we have seen more extreme natural events worldwide: record-breaking heatwaves, flash floods and inundations, and severe forest fires.  To make COP26 a decisive moment for our planet to limit warming to 1.5°C, the Environmental Defence Fund suggests these four things must happen between Climate Week and the two-week summit. Below is a summary:

1. Countries must increase their emissions reduction targets. Governments must do more to reduce emissions and develop more ambitious NDCs. China should fulfil its promise to stop investing in coal-fired projects abroad.
2. Wealthy nations must make strong commitments. Rich economies should meet their $100 billion-per-year climate-finance commitment to developing countries to help them cope with and adapt to climate change.
3. Businesses need to support strong climate policies. Businesses should lobby and advocate for more climate actions and policies like some US companies like GM, Salesforce, Amazon, Microsoft, who have pledged to net-zero emission targets. IKEA, Nestle, eBay, Ford, and others have supported policies to clean transportation by driving investments in sustainable fuels, using innovations to slash emissions, and electrifying transportation and fleets.
4. Countries must move quickly to slash methane pollution. The US and the European Union announced a Global Methane Pledge to invigorate international support to cut methane emissions. In October, the US also proposed strong Environmental Protection Agency methane standards that will limit oil and gas production pollution.

Climate change is now upon us, and it is time for countries to take bold steps, using the most robust methods and the fastest actions to tackle it.