COP26 talks reach their final week

The COP26 climate summit opened its second and closing week of discussions on Monday.

National delegations worked behind closed doors to strike the all-important goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Ministers coming to Scotland’s most populous city of Glasgow early this week will attempt to resolve sticking points. Moreover, they should conclude the talks with an agreement to evade more frequent and progressively worse climate consequences.

COP26 President Alok Sharma has defined this as the second where the rubber hits the road.

Hence, delegates require to iron out a strategy to hold global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels to limit the worst of what the climate crisis has in store. This temperature threshold is crucial worldwide and refers to the aspirational goal listed in the Paris Agreement.

However, there is not yet any explicit indication of whether the talks will meet the climate emergency demands.

Promises

The first week of the U.N.-brokered talks observed a blizzard of climate pledges. Countries pledge to stop and reverse deforestation, phase out coal and decrease methane emissions by 30% by 2030.

Business leaders and financial instructions have vowed to fund more in net zero-aligned projects. This has since been reprimanded, nevertheless, for avoiding the point on fossil fuels.

Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the world’s most prominent Earth scientists, highlighted promises to repair and protect forests and a compromise to cut methane emissions as two up-and-coming developments. He stated it was exhilarating to see Brazil among the signatories to convert deforestation by the end of the decade.

The so-called Global Methane Pledge, an international initiative to decrease dominant climate heating gas emissions, was also an excellent step to move the climate debate from carbon emissions-only, Rockstrom stated.

Progress?

The first week of COP26 has been expressed as a significant step forward by some. However, there is a demand for much more action.

U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa informed CNBC that the flurry of reports in the opening days of COP26 had given her understanding to be cautiously optimistic. In contrast, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has embraced the excellent progress made to date.

The influential International Energy Agency issued an updated analysis on Thursday that if countries followed through with their responsibilities, it would be enough to curb global heating to about 1.8 degrees Celsius.