Cop26 Glasgow Declaration: Critical Analysis

The 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change concluded in Glasgow. It was hosted by United Kingdom in collaboration with Italy. The primary goal of COP26 was to establish the rules and processes for putting the Paris Agreement into effect. The majority of these rules were finalized by 2018, but a few elements remained unsettled, such as the one relating to the development of new carbon markets.

• The goal is to prevent the global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. That is the point at which experts believe the dangers of global warming, such as lethal heat waves, water shortages, crop failures, and ecosystem collapse, increase dramatically.

Achievements of Glasgow

• Re-Visiting Emissions-Cutting Plans Next Year To Try To Keep 1.5°C Target Reachable
  • The pact has correctly set a target for global warming of no more than +1.5°C, as well as getting around 140 countries to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050. This is a notable achievement, given that, while all developing nations pledged to take actions to restrict carbon emissions in Paris in 2015, they only agreed to lower the "emissions-intensity" of GDP, not to reduce emissions.
• Net Zero Emission for Both Developed & Developing Countries
  • The majority of countries have set 2050 as their net-zero date, although a few have set 2045 or sooner, while some, such as China, Russia, and Indonesia, have set 2060. With Prime Minister’s announcement of net-zero ambitions for 2070, India has joined the consensus.
• Mitigation
  • The deadline for sharing NDCs has been pushed from 2025 to 2022.
  • It has developed a work plan to increase mitigation ambition and implementation as quickly as possible.
• Adaptation
  • It has asked the developed countries to at least double the money being provided for adaptation by 2025 from the 2019 levels. In 2019, about $15 billion was made available for adaptation. A two year work program has been created to define a global goal on adaptation.
• Resolution of the Carbon Market Issue
  • One of the major achievements of COP26 was the resolving of the standoff over carbon markets.
  • It has permitted countries to use old carbon credits to meet their first NDC targets. In their first NDCs, most countries set climate targets for 2025.
  • A carbon market existed under the Kyoto Protocol; however, it expired in 2020 due to which developing countries had substantial amounts of carbon credits left over. Also, there was a question over the quality of these credits. The finalization of the Paris Agreement's regulations and processes has been stalled due to a deadlock on this issue.
• The First Ever Inclusion of a Commitment To Limit Coal Use
  • The pact calls for a phase down of coal and a phase out of fossil fuel subsidies- two key issues that had never been explicitly mentioned in a decision at climate talks before – despite coal, oil and gas being the key drivers of global warming.
• Parallel Processes
  • Over a hundred countries have committed to reducing methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030 compared to current levels. If this pledge is met, it is anticipated that a 0.2 degree Celsius temperature rise will be reduced by the middle of the century.
  • Another group of over a hundred countries committed to halting and reversing deforestation by 2030.
  • Over 30 nations have signed a declaration vowing to work toward a transition to 100% zero-emission cars by 2040, at least in the world's major car markets.

Challenges

Climate Finance

• Every climate action has a monetary cost. Public finance for infrastructure development and private money for technology and innovation are both required to transition to a greener and more climate resilient economy.
• The wealthy countries have failed to fulfill their $100 billion pledge for climate finance. Though the summit has requested that developed world arrange this money immediately and on a yearly basis until 2025 but $100 billion are not adequate to fund for mitigating the adverse effects of climate related disasters. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has estimated that adaptation costs faced by only the developing countries will be in a range of $140 billion to $300 billion per year by 2030, and $280 billion to $500 billion annually by 2050 and possibly even more than a trillion dollars.
• Another key concern is that the majority of climate funds have gone toward mitigation rather than adaptation (mitigation refers to devising new solutions and way of doing things, while adaptation refers to managing the current issues).

Loss and Damage

• There is no institutional system in place to compensate nations for their losses or to provide relief and rehabilitation assistance. The COP has failed to reach an agreement on whether to establish a "loss and damage" fund, which would compensate climate-vulnerable countries for damage caused by emissions that they did not cause.

Voluntary Net Zero

• Net Zero Emission targets announced by countries are optional, with no mechanism for enforcement or penalties for non-compliance, and many are dependent on availability of adequate financial support. Also, many countries are yet to provide particular details on specific initiatives that would determine the actual path to net zero emissions.

Trust Issues

• Trust between the Global North and Global South is very low after the incidences of hoarding of global COVID-19 vaccine supplies by wealthy countries during 2021. The developing nations are less willing to reach a consensus on critical issues by compromising their positions.