Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 45 2021

AsiaElec COP26 AsiaElec

First COP26 agreement lacks

targets and detail

ASIA COP26 came up with a first draft agreement Finally, the document calls for the Paris
on November 10 that called on government to Agreement to be implemented in full, including
improve substantially by the end of 2022 their a global stocktaking of current climate policies.
emissions reduction targets and long-term strat- Speaking at the conference, UK Prime Min-
egies for reaching net zero. ister Boris Johnson urged world leaders and del-
The document affirms the global goal of lim- egates to reach an agreement.
iting temperature increase to 1.5 degrees, and “The world will find it absolutely incompre-
recognises that the decade until 2030 will be cru- hensible if we fail to deliver that,” he said.
cial in making any headway in the longer term He stressed that the conference had achieved
until 2100. It also recognises the emerging global considerable consensus in combating climate
consensus that the world must reduce global car- change.
bon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030 relative to The draft agreement proposed for the first
the 2010 level, and to net zero around 2050. time uniform agreement by governments of the
The document also acknowledges that emis- dangers the world faced, and the need to acceler-
sions are in fact set to rise by 13.7% by 2030 if ate the reduction of CO2 emissions.
current reduction plans are not improved. “The world is closer than it has ever been to
Perhaps the biggest innovation is a call to signalling the beginning of the end of anthropo-
“accelerate the phasing-out of coal and subsidies genic climate change,” he said.
for fossil fuels.” However, the draft can be easily criticised for
This mention of fossil fuels is a major first for a lack of legal enforcement, and although it calls
a COP conference, as the Paris Agreement in for a new reporting framework to be set up, there
2015 did not expressly mention coal and fossil are no time limits set.
fuels. The same is true for the phase-out of coal and
The document also suggests that the world’s subsidies for fossil fuels. What this means is that
most vulnerable nations should get more finan- there is no time limit to call, and no legal require-
cial help from rich countries to deal with the ment for countries to stop promoting the contin-
impacts of global warming. It calls for more ued production and consumption of oil and gas.
money to further the understanding of global “If the coal and fossil fuel phase-out language
and local impacts of climate change, response survive, that’ll be a first for a COP decision,” said
options and adaptation needs. Richard Black, senior associate at the UK-based
In terms of finance, the document calls for Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
developed countries to at least double climate The lack of legal enforcement was also high-
finance to developing countries. lighted by Greenpeace, a campaigning group.
It also calls for the private sector, multilateral “This draft deal is not a plan to solve the cli-
development banks (MDBs) and other financial mate crisis, it’s an agreement that we’ll all cross
institutions to enhance finance mobilisation in our fingers and hope for the best. It’s a polite
order to deliver the scale of resources needed request that countries maybe, possibly, do more
to achieve climate plans. It calls on investors to next year. Well that’s not good enough, and the
align their investment activities with the Paris negotiators shouldn’t even think about leaving
Agreements. this city until they’ve agreed a deal that meets the
The document now serves as the basis for moment,” Greenpeace International Executive
up to three days of talks in Glasgow, in the hope Director Jennifer Morgan said.
of reaching a binding agreement unanimously The document is far too weak, as it does not
supported by all governments and parties at the mandate any targets or time limits for reducing
conference. emissions, and does not set any financial targets.
The document also calls on rich countries “The text needs to be much stronger on
to provide finance to repair the damage already finance and adaptation and needs to include
done by climate change – the Loss and Damage real numbers in the hundreds of billions, with a
principle – for example, in the forms of hurri- delivery plan for richer countries to support less
canes and flooding. developed nations,” Morgan added.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 10•November•2021