Commons Sense

This past week we saw the UK’s presidency of the COP26 climate talks end with an historic agreement has set out new targets of how the world will limit rising temperatures to below 1.5 degrees by the end of the centur y.

Some incredible goals were agreed to at the summit, such as an agreement with over 100 countries to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. And an agreement with a similar number of countries to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 – a gas which also has a very strong impact on climate change.

One of the biggest takeaways however was that all countries committed to the eventual scale-down of coal, the dirtiest and most carbon emitting fossil fuel currently in use today. This was signed up to by some of the worst emitters including, crucially, China and India who are two of the world’s largest users of coal.

Despite these great breakthroughs there are still some many areas of concern. Namely the resistance from larger polluters like China and India to commit to a 2050 net-zero emissions pledge, or to agree on the complete phase out of coal by 2030. Such commitments are essential if we are to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees.

The good news is that all countries agreed to revisit talks next year which will hopefully result in more ambitious targets. Additionally, developed nations agreed to ramp up financing to developing nations to help them transition to net-zero.

What this all means is that through our leadership the Glasgow summit has successfully laid out the first step towards reaching net-zero carbon emissions and averting further climate change.

This is thanks to the commendable leadership of the Prime Minister, and the president of COP, Alok Sharma, who really gave the conference a sense of direction, drive, and energy, and cemented the UK’s position as a world leader on fighting climate change.