The Paris Agreement and COP 26

At the 26th COP this year at Glassgow, and the mood was not so full of hope. The developing countries present, including India expressed deep disappointment on the allocation of resources and the inability of the developed countries in meeting funding targets. Developed countries had made a commitment in the year 2009 to mobilise $100 billion per year by 2020 for developing countries so that they can make the required efforts in preventing change in climate and mitigating its effects.

• COP’ stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’. The ‘Parties’ are the countries which have signed the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC). These nations meet once a year to discuss issues related to climate change and the constructive steps that could be taken.

The ‘Paris Agreement’ was signed by majority of the countries in the world at COP21 in Paris in 2015. The objective was to keep the rise in the global average temperature ‘well below’ 2 degrees, ideally 1.5 degrees when compared to pre-industrial levels. As per the Paris Agreement countries themselves were to decide the target i.e by how much they will reduce their emissions by a certain year and communicate these targets or ‘NDCs’ (nationally determined contributions), to the UNFCCC.

The target of limiting the rise in temperature still remains at 1.5 degrees but measures taken, and efforts made by countries all over the world are far below the mark.

Climate change is real, and it is now time to deliver - in many parts of the world people are already facing the brunt of the shift in temperature in their day to day lives. There are more frequent and more intense floods, storms, droughts and landslides, and faster sea level rise.

At the present rate we will be moving to a 2.7-degree-Celsius warmer world by the end of the century compared to the pre-industrial times. The average global temperature is already 1.2 degree Centigrade warmer than pre-industrial times.

An increase of just 0.5 degrees can mean extreme heat stress for over a billion people, a ten percent increase in melting of ice caps and increase of sea level by six percent in many vulnerable parts of the world. This will mean an existential crisis in regions where the population is largely dependent on agriculture and fishing for survival. We need to be careful while buying electronic gadgets and machines including drinking water stations and water coolers. They should cause minimal harm to the environment.

Nations need to take adequate measures to adjust to the impacts of climate and minimise the impact of this change.

All countries are being hit; developing countries that have less money to handle the impacts are angry because the funding to developing countries by their developed counterparts has till now been nowhere near the mark and the long-promised USD 100 billion a year in climate finance from developed nations by 2020 will now not be available before 2023.

The Alliance of Small Island States described this failure as "a grave disappointment", adding that "the impact this has had on trust cannot be underestimated". [https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/climate/india-cop26-crucial-summit-starts/]

There is one positive streak though – the rising interest of people and their willingness to be a part of the change. This realisation that climate change can have such devastating effects on us is of vital importance.

Government policies and stricter rules are required to prevent the calamities that will result due to climate change but awareness among people can also bring about a huge difference and push back the inevitable to a great extent. The impact is huge and far reaching but nations can take concrete steps to prevent further damage. Responding to climate change is critical to the survival of our communities, to the survival of humanity.

Governments would need to revisit and assess their climate goals each year. The ‘Conference of the Parties’ has no doubt been successful in creating diplomatic pressure on nations to assess and make efforts in the direction.

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