Rohan Jayaraman
// Was it enough? //
The 26th annual ‘Conference of the Parties’ (COP) took place in Glasgow, Scotland from the 31st of October to the 12th of November in 2021. Since the drafting of the Paris Agreement, COP 21, this was the first meeting where countries set goals to reduce climate change. Over 20,000 delegates in addition to 120 heads of states from over 200 countries attended the conference. In spite of the conference’s successful unification of many country delegates interested in tackling climate change, this year’s conference did not do enough to address the threat.Although overall progress was made, the pact will not do enough to tackle the challenge of Climate change and contains major shortcomings.
In spite of the COP’s successes, many of its rulings have been too flexible and compliant to countries that do not consider climate change a top priority. The Kyoto Protocol in 1997 was the first major agreement where several major countries agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% before 2030. Almost 20 years later, the 2016 Paris Accord marked another major international consensus regarding climate change. However, reductions of emissions were voluntary and targets were self-set, meaning that countries were not required to set targets that would drastically slow climate change. Three years later, the United States withdrew from the Paris Accord due to the Trump administration’s belief that it would undermine the nation’s economy. Spectators increased their expectations of stricter climate measures at COP 26 as the US re-entered the negotiations under a new administration. Still, despite criticism from President Biden, both Chinese President Xi Jingping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaders of two countries with high levels of pollution, did not attend the conference. Leaders determined to combat the issue of climate change were held back by a lack of compliance by countries emitting high levels of fossil fuels. For example, China, which contributed 54.3% of global coal emissions in 2020, did not commit to phasing out fossil fuels in the latest pact.
During COP 26, tensions and time constraints led delegates to wonder whether a significant pact would be created in time. During the final hours of the conference countries agreed to form the ‘Glasgow Climate Pact.’ This included ‘Reaffirming the Paris Agreement,’ in which countries set goals to keep global temperature increases under 2°C. The pact also explicitly commented on the use of coal and other fossil fuels as the single biggest contributor to climate change, noting that the sources emit 89% of global CO2 emissions. Forty countries, including China and India, agreed to move away from coal and other fossil fuels and switch to finding renewable sources. However, a significant number of countries controversially negotiated to ‘phase down’ coal emissions by 40% rather than completely ‘phase out’ emissions, meaning countries are not ready to commit to a world without coal.
During COP 26, attendees made many strides to address climate change globally. Major countries have put in more funds (from $13 billion is COP 21 to $19 billion in COP 26) to find sustainable and renewable energy sources. For example, India, one of the world’s largest contributors to climate change (emitting three gigatons of greenhouse gasses each year), agreed to halve their non-renewable energy production and replace it with renewable sources. Furthermore, over 100 countries, including Brazil and Indonesia, agreed to reverse deforestation by funding initiatives that planned to reduce the number of trees at risk of deforestation. Countries made financial commitments to fund numerous initiatives that found alternatives to deforestation. For example, several global powerhouses pledged millions to the organization ‘Greenpeace USA’, which aims to stabilize forests that are at risk of being deforested. 140 countries, making up 90% of the global GDP, committed towards creating plans for net zero emissions. Developed countries have also agreed to increase their funding of over $100 billion to mitigate climate change in developing countries, tackling the lack of renewable energy sources available in these countries. US President Envoy for Climate John Kerry described the agreement as “good start.” However, the chair of Small Island States Aubrey Webson believed the pact wasn’t “sufficient,” as it still provided risk of sinking to these islands due to increasing sea levels.
In spite of setbacks, several significant steps occurred during the summit. For example, the U.S. and China made major strides in their relationship, striking a deal to cooperate on the reduction in methane emissions in spite of their differing views about the treatment of workers. However, while COP26 yielded some positive outcomes, tension remains between those in support of harsher measures and countries without the will to make necessary economic sacrifices. In particular, the decision to ‘phase down’ rather than ‘phase out’ coal is a clear missed opportunity, as is the lack of structure within the agreement to deal with complicated topics like funding. Despite these issues, members of the COP 26 still committed more money into deforestation plans than previous COPs, leading to a more influential result in comparison to previous initiatives that have failed. Nevertheless, the inability of governments to create a strict response to the threat of climate change shows their unwillingness to individually sacrifice for the better of all nations. Without continued pressure on the governments to finalize the details of COP 26, the agreement could leave the goal of combating climate change with a risk of failure.
Alok Sharma fighting back tears, apologizing as the Pact was agreed on.
