Glasgow is about to host the first five-year review of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, and countries are expected to announce updates to their plans for reducing emissions, but many commentators are frustrated that new targets simply point to ambitions for, and not action on, climate change.
The UK’s president designate for COP26, Alok Sharma, has outlined four goals for the climate change agenda. Principally, he wants to align every nationally determined contribution (NDC) with a goal of lowering the current 2°C global warming limit to 1.5°C. Countries are being asked to announce ambitious emissions reduction targets ahead of meeting in Glasgow. The other three goals are to help countries adapt to climate change and minimise losses caused by flooding and other weather-related events, to increase and to mobilise climate finance, and lastly, to enhance international collaboration.
Carlos Pacual, senior vice president for global energy at the...