Current Affairs 2021: Objective and Relevance of COP26

By Teresa Dhar

COP26 started in Glasgow on October 31. The world leaders and activists were invited to present their views and action plan required to mitigate climate change. Read here the expectations and relevance of COP26.

The COP (Conference of Parties)26 is the unofficial name of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2021. It was to be held last year. But due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, it is now scheduled to take place from 1st to the 12th of November, 2021. The first COP was held in Berlin in 1995 and this year it will be held for the 26th time. This conference is meant for the member states who have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - which is an international environmental treaty - confronting cataclysmic global warming and climate change. UNFCCC aims at avoiding hazardous climate changes and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. All United Nations members (as well as, certain additional observer states) are signatories to the UNFCCC. A cumulative 197 member states are signatories to the UNFCCC.

This year, the COP will be hosted in Glasgow, UK. British politician, Alok Sharma has been designated the President of COP26.  It means that he will act as a neutral and partial moderator deciding the order of speakers, maintaining decorum in the forum, architecting a productive discussion leading to a successful outcome, etc.  Most of the world leaders are expected to be at the event - be it the Prime Minister of the UK, Australia, India, & Italy and President of France, USA, Germany, African Nations, etc. Additionally, climate change activist Greta Thunberg, Naturalist David Attenborough and Pope Francis of Vatican are expected to grace the event.

What are the objectives of COP26?

What COP26 will try to determine is how lax or constructive countries have been in meeting their targets as per the Paris Agreement, 2015. The Paris agreement 2015 (COP21) - in the context of emission reductions - pursues a strategy of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). NDCs let the countries undertake on their own volition what emission-reduction strategies they would like to implement and to what extent. The Paris agreement was espoused by the majority of countries who made lofty promises to try and maintain the increase in the Earth’s mean surface temperature to “well below 2°C” compared with pre-industrial levels more precisely 'to no more than 1.5°C'. 

One of the most important agendas for COP26 is to encourage countries to put forth and implement “ambitious” emissions reduction targets by 2030 which should then be succeeded by reaching a net zero situation by 2050. Developed nations such as the UK and the US have made declarations in the recent past on pledging to a “net-zero emission target” by 2035. Australia’s announcement of net-zero emissions has come just days before COP26. New Zealand has resolved to ensure zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has defined net-zero as “consuming only as much energy as is produced.” In contextual specificity of emissions, it indicates attaining equilibrium between the greenhouse gases that are produced and the greenhouse gases that are taken out of the atmosphere. Countries have made commitments in the past, the reviewing of which will take place in COP26. Some auxiliary issues on the agenda will include mobilization of funds and climate financing of developed nations to developing nations to successfully operate the Paris Agreement. It helps the latter combat and adapt to climate change and carbon trading rules.

Rules on international carbon markets, utilization of finance and technologies to empower both developed and developing countries transit to clean, green energy and adapt to impacts of climate change (unprecedented heatwaves, prolonged landslides, continuous rise in sea-level, etc.) might be promulgated in COP26. Climate change impacts in light of COVID-19 might be deliberated upon to assess both economic and non-economic ‘loss and damage’ i.e, the extent of compensation countries should receive on account of suffering the most from climate change and global warming. It is expected to make a push for a switch from fossil fuel-run cars to electric cars.

What relevance does COP26 hold for the future?

There are manifold perplexities in striving for delivering such targets.  Firstly, some sceptics feel that COP is mere “all talk, no action” that is unlikely to progress into anything fruitful. Coupled with the conspiracy theorists (funded mainly by the petroleum and oil industrialists) who have declared climate change as a hoax thereby seeding doubt in people’s minds - awareness about global warming has been severely impeded. COP26 has to prove that this summit isn’t merely a talk-shop but provide definite actions from the member states. The burden of responsibility is especially on developed states, as they are the highest emitters of carbon-based pollutants and users of fossil fuel-based products. They have the resources and finances to tackle climate change.

COVID-19 has re-allocated priorities towards the environment, wildlife and how we’ll deal with it. Countries will seek a green recovery in response to rebuilding their economies in the light of the COVID-19 and other prospective pandemics. In the age of digitization, working with high-tech expertise to impede climate change is the need of the hour.  There needs to be a transparency, accountability and responsibility mechanism augmented by international support to effectively implement the commitments made under the Paris Agreement. Every step towards a cleaner and greener way of life, especially by significantly reducing carbon emission, pushing for intra and intergenerational sustainability and bringing down the temperature on Earth’s surface to 1.5°C will make a ginormous impact on the overall climatic changes for the better.

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