World leaders from over 200 countries in the world are meeting at the COP26 climate change conference. COP26 is a United Nations climate change summit meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.
COP stands for Conference of the Parties and 26 signifies it is the 26th conference.
Why Climate Change?
They are discussing key climate change issues that are affecting our world today. Climate change is one of the world’s most pressing problems.
It is causing more extreme weather. The past decade was the warmest on record, and governments agree urgent change is needed. They are being asked for plans and strategies to effect this.
Decisions made here could impact jobs, how we heat our homes (boilers and heaters), what we eat and how we travel (cars and aircraft). All our lives will change.
Emissions
Reducing carbon emissions is high on the agenda. Countries are being asked for plans to cut emissions by 2030. China is leading with the highest carbon emissions followed by USA, Russia and India.
Methane is one of the gases that are emitted. There is mounting concern among scientists that countries are not doing enough to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases, which have caused average global temperatures to rise.
The methane deal will be signed by various countries to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. This will introduce methods to measure, regulate and control emissions.
This will reduce health risks like asthma and crop loss and damage.
Global Warming
There’s a call to reduce global warming by keeping the temperature at 2C. The target is to reach 1.5C as promised at the 2015 conference in Paris. Governments must promise more ambitious cuts in warming gases if we are to prevent greater global temperature rises.
The British Prime Minister Mr Boris Johnson said leaders needed to move from “aspiration to action” to slow global warming.
End Deforestation
Key to mention is the commitment by world leaders to end deforestation and land degradation by 2030. It is said that every minute, forests the size of 27 football pitches are destroyed! This is done by key multinational corporations who are doing business in Africa planting huge plantations and building industries.
Africa has lost over 3.9 million hectares of forests between 2010 and 2020.
30 major companies agree to divest from deforesting industries.
Forests help our ecosystem by absorbing carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen needed by humans and animals.
Way Foward
These resolutions can be achieved by countries keeping their promises by implementing strategies like raising climate change awareness, making drastic changes and funding climate change initiatives aggressively.
The Archbishop of Canterbury said climate change was “absolutely a moral issue”.
Environmental campaigners have called for strict policing and sanctions on implementing these decisions
