On
the 12th December 2015, at COP21 in Paris, the first ever universal
agreement on climate was agreed. The historic Paris Agreement contained a
pledge to keep global warming below 2°C, while striving to keep it nearer to
1.5°C. Developed countries also committed to providing developing nations with
$100 billion to support their fight against climate change. Finally, the
agreement stipulated that signatories should publish national carbon emissions
reduction targets by 2020 (Called Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs),
and that these would be subsequently reviewed every five years.
Five years on, COP26 in Glasgow was dubbed “the
last chance saloon”, after international commitments made in Paris came short,
and global warming is on its way to increasing by 2.7°C by 2100. As a result, the
task that global leaders faced in Glasgow was no mean feat, and expectations
were very high. After two weeks of pledges and tensed negotiations, COP26
concluded on the 12th November 2021 and 197 countries joined the
Glasgow Climate Pact. Overall, the Climate Pact contains an agreement to “keep
1.5°C alive and urgently accelerate climate action”, while building upon the
Paris Agreement and laying out a reporting framework which will improve the
transparency of national targets and progress.
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