All you need to know about COP26

Something very significant is happening right now in Glasgow. You may well have heard of it on the evening news - COP26, a big deal indeed! It started on the 31st of October and will run until the 12th of November. And even though this event gets a fair share of attention, sometimes you need to dive deeper into the subject to understand what it is and why it is important.

What is COP26?

COP26 is the 2021 United Nations climate change conference. More than that, it is meant to be a pivotal moment in the fight against climate change. For 26 years, the UN has been bringing together the world governments to discuss climate change. These get-together events are called COPs (Conferences of Parties). This year, the UK is running the COP and it is taking place in Glasgow.

Why is it important?

Every COP is important, but COP26 is unique. To understand why we need to look back at COP21 that took place in Paris in 2015. You may have heard of the Paris Agreement before. Well, COP21 was the place that made the Paris Agreement happen. And it was not an ordinary agreement – for the first time every country agreed to work together to halt global warming at 1.5 degrees (or under 2 degrees if 1.5 goal was not achievable). To understand the significance of this pledge, we can look at the graph below. Every fraction of a degree will result in losses to habitats, human lives and livelihoods. So 1.5 degrees is a big deal.

Caption: WWF, 2018

The Paris Agreement goals are set to be reviewed every 5 years, with a running agenda to keep plans as ambitious as possible. COP26 will be a chance to review the current position, make changes and update the strategies. The actions we have in place are nowhere near successful, and we haven’t come close to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. Glasgow COP26 will need to be decisive.

What are the goals?

There are 4 main goals that COP26 is striving to achieve:

1.???Secure global net-zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach

This is an ambitious goal indeed. The countries will be asked to come forward with ambitious 2030 emission reduction targets to help us collectively achieve net-zero by 2050. Countries will be asked to speed up the phase-out of coal, halt deforestation, force the switch to electric vehicles and encourage investments in renewables.

2.???Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats

Even if we do our best from now on, the change has already begun, and the effects are devastating. We need to work together to protect and restore affected ecosystems and build defences against future effects.

3.???Mobilise finance

The first two targets can only be achieved if there is funding to do so. Developed countries need to make good on their promise to mobilise at least $100bn in climate finance per year.

4.???Work together to deliver

The challenges ahead of us are immense, and we can only hope to overcome them if we learn to work together. At COP26, we must finalise the Paris Rulebook and agree on collaborations between governments, businesses and civil societies.

?What’s next?

Well, we need to wait and see. There are a lot of actions that need to come out of COP26 to ensure we have hope of a sustainable future. But in the meantime, we need to do our little bits to fight this global fight. From volunteering to recycling, from heat pumps to retrofits, from cutting out single-use plastic to disinvesting your pension from fossil fuels – there are a lot of things each of us can do to make the change happen.