Key Takeaways:
- The Glasgow Climate Pact is the first-ever climate agreement to include a plan to decrease coal, the most damaging fossil fuel.
- If current pledges are met, global warming will be limited to around 2.4 degrees Celsius.
The agreement also calls for more quick emission reductions and more funding for developing nations to help them adapt to climate change. However, the guarantees do not go far enough to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
A commitment to phase out coal included in earlier draughts of the negotiations came to a dramatic end after India and China led opposition to it.
Bhupender Yadav, India’s climate minister, questioned how developing countries could promise to phase out coal and fossil fuel subsidies. At the same time, they “have still to deal with their development agendas and poverty eradication.”
In the end, countries agreed to “phase down” rather than “phase out” coal, despite some dissatisfaction. Nevertheless, COP26 President Alok Sharma expressed “deep regret” for how events had unfolded.
“In the recent years, there will be a great deal more to do.
However, today’s accord is a significant step forward, and we now have the first-ever worldwide agreement to phase out coal and a plan to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, “He expressed himself.
According to US climate envoy John Kerry, the “starting pistol” had been fired, who said it was always improbable that the Glasgow meeting would result in a decision that “was somehow going to end the situation.” Countries will gather next year as part of the accord to vow additional considerable carbon reduction to fulfill the 1.5°C objectives.
Scientists predict that if global temperatures rise by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, the Earth will suffer severe consequences, including millions of more people exposed to intense heat. Despite the reduction of language around coal, some observers will regard the agreement as a win, pointing out that it is the 1st time coal has been referenced clearly in a UN treaty of this type.
Source: BBC News
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