COP26 ended on November 13, 2021, with an agreement from 200 countries to fight climate change by lowering greenhouse emissions and raising the financial aid given to poorer countries to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference took place from October 31 to November 13, 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland. After two weeks of discussions, the countries formed a tentative deal that many of the nation’s representatives were frustrated with. 

The deal included that every country will try to limit greenhouse gases this year and return next meeting with bigger climate control plans and for richer countries to double their aid to poorer nations by 2025 for insurance from global warming.

This compromise dissatisfied many diplomats because of India’s change from “phase out coal” to “phase down coal” as a power source. This slight change in wording completely shifts India’s goal from eliminating coal usage to decreasing it. Since coal is widely known as the chief supplier of greenhouse emissions, many countries were unhappy with this modification. 

Mexico and Switzerland’s diplomats even tried to nullify the change since it was offered so late into the summit; however, the adjustment stuck. Dr. Bill Hare, an Australian climate scientist, remarks that “India’s last-minute change to … not phase out coal is quite shocking … India has long been a blocker on climate action, but I have never seen it done so publicly.”

On top of this change, statistics by Climate Action Tracker, “an independent scientific analysis produced by two research organisations tracking climate action since 2009,” speculates that if every country follows the deal and its requirements, the earth’s carbon emissions will be lowered 6.3 billion metric tons. This number is 4 times less than the number of reduced emissions needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius (26.8 billion metric tons).

What do you think this entails for the future of Earth and humanity?

by Kevin Lee