Leading the call for climate action: Sagarika Dutt comments on the United Kingdom's presidency of the climate change conference held in Glasgow late last year.

• Author: Dutt, Sagarika

The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP26 was held in Glasgow, Scotland, between 31 October and 12 November 2021 under the presidency of the United Kingdom. The main aim of the conference was to accelerate action towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement (2015) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The countries that have signed the Paris Agreement have made a commitment to '[h]olding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels', as that would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. (1) In order to achieve this goal, they are required to adopt national plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions that the United Nations regards as their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). They have also agreed that every five years they will come back with an updated plan, although at COP26 it was agreed that they will do this in 2022 in view of the urgent need to take climate action. This article discusses the build-up to COP26, the goals it aimed for and the agreements made by different countries to respond to climate change. But one of the main problems is that so far not much has been done to mobilise climate finance and the onus is mainly on the developed countries to do so.

The international community's concerns about climate change began many years ago. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted in 1992 had noted that 'human activities have been substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases'. These in creases enhance the natural greenhouse effect and will result in additional warming of the Earth's surface and atmosphere and may adversely affect natural ecosystems and human kind. It acknowledged that the 'global nature of climate change calls for the widest possible co-operation by all countries and their participation in an effective and appropriate international response, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions'. (2)

The Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 by 195 countries aimed to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change. But it also stated that developed countries should continue to take the lead by adopting economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets. Developing countries 'should continue enhancing their mitigation efforts, and are encouraged to move over time towards economy-wide emission reduction or limitation targets in the light of different national circumstances'. One of the action points of the agreement was that developed countries shall provide financial resources to assist developing countries with respect to both mitigation and adaptation. They should also take the lead in mobilising climate finance from a wide variety of sources, instruments and channels. Such mobilisation of climate finance should represent a progression beyond previous efforts.

Important statement

On 23 September 2021, the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, made a statement at the Security Council Briefing on the Role of Climate Action in Maintaining International Peace and Security. The purpose of the statement was to bring to their attention that the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed that 'climate disruption caused by human activities is widespread and intensifying'. He argued that much bolder climate action was needed ahead of COP26--with G20 nations in the lead--to maintain international peace and security.

The effects of climate change are particularly profound when they overlap with fragility and past or current conflicts. It is, therefore, imperative that global emissions are cut by 45 per cent by 2030 and that there is a breakthrough on adaptation and resilience for which climate finance is essential. Moreover, developed countries must uphold their promise to deliver--before COP26--$100 billion dollars in climate finance annually to the developing world. (3)

While a lot of this may seem like empty words, as argued by many people, including the climate activist Greta Thunberg, the United Nations is monitoring the efforts countries are making to meet their climate obligations and scientists are assessing the impact that it will have on global warming. The Paris Agreement's requirement for states to publish their climate action plans or nationally determined contributions has made it possible to publish an NDC synthesis report, which estimates that global greenhouse gas emissions will increase by 16 per cent in 2030 compared to 2010. It states that while 'updated or new climate action plans can be effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions over time', '[p]arties must urgently redouble their climate efforts if they...