What happened at COP?
Over the two weeks of the climate summit, representatives from countries around the world met in Glasgow for the 26th time, discussing the necessary actions to mitigate global climate change and limit warming to 1.5 degrees since pre-industrial temperature levels. Research published at the summit indicated the short-term plans put in place by countries currently would amount to a rise of 2.4 degrees.
At COP26 I witnessed a flurry of new commitments from the sidelines: developed countries agreed to support developing nations in their transition with $100bn a year, many pledged to stop deforestation to protect our natural carbon sinks, and to focus on reducing high-impact methane emissions (from gas leaks and agriculture) by 30% by 2030.
The US and China have announced more collaboration – a geopolitical surprise to many of us. Over the weekend of 13-14 November, the formal COP26 negotiations concluded and the Glasgow agreement was published. For the first time, nations agreed to “phase down” coal and agreed to come back with better national decarbonisation targets next year. Besides that, however, there is not much concrete progress.
Read the full article in ESG Clarity’s November 2021 digital magazine.
