[ad_1]
CNN
—
It was in the city of Glasgow that Scottish engineer James Watt improved how the steam engine worked and unwittingly started the Industrial Revolution. He could not imagine that humans would consume so much coal, oil and gas over the next two centuries, endangering the very climate that made human existence possible.
Over 120 leaders will speak in the very same city on Monday to kick off the COP26 climate negotiations. There they set the tone for his two weeks of negotiations ending with either ending with a plan to rapidly decarbonize the planet or making watery statements to delay it. We need a science show, and we might push it until it’s too late.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose government is hosting talks, warns on Monday that humanity is running out of time on climate change.
In a statement sent to journalists, he said in his opening speech, “It’s one minute to midnight. We need to act now.
“We must move from talks and debates and debates to concerted, real-world action on coal, cars, cash and trees. A clear commitment and a concrete timetable for
The G20 summit, which ended in Rome on Sunday, suggests that leaders have finally turned their ears to science, but the political pressure to make the ambitious decisions needed at the moment. Cohesion is still lacking.
The latest UN climate science report, released in August, made clear what needs to be done. It’s about making significant and sustained cuts in greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade to give us a chance to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees below pre-industrial levels. Despite all the newly announced pledges, the world is still headed for a 2.7 degree increase in temperature.
If global warming exceeds 1.5 degrees, the effects of the climate crisis will be exacerbated. But the good news is that the 1.5 limit is perfectly within reach. A United Nations report has shown that greenhouse gas emissions must reach net zero by the middle of the century, no more than they have been removed from the atmosphere, and warming can be halted in the process. .
All of this scientific language, including the recognition that in order to reach net zero by mid-century, many Member States will need to lift their emission reduction pledges, known as their National Determined Contributions (NDCs). It was in the communiqué of the G20 leaders. Ten years.
However, it failed to put an end to the use of coal, the single biggest contributor to climate change, and to ensure that all countries committed to net zero emissions by 2050 (China, Russia and Saudi Arabia pledged ) ), in contrast to 2060, shows that countries that use and produce fossil fuels still have a significant influence in the global climate deal.
In fact, China’s long-awaited new emissions pledge submitted last week was slightly higher than its predecessor. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that it would not build a strong armament towards net zero by 2050. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison showed no interest in leaving coal to history. India has not made a net-zero pledge and, as European parliamentarian Bas Eickhout told CNN, India is one of the few countries opposed to setting a date for coal phase-out. is.
Michael Mann, chief scientist at Pennsylvania State University, said it was encouraging that leaders acknowledged that more needs to be done on emissions this decade. The key is to ensure that all large emitters have plans consistent with keeping warming below 1.5 degrees. .
“It’s also about bridging the ‘implementation gap’ — the gap between what heads of state nominally promise and what they’re actually doing,” Mann said.
Mann warned that COP26 should not be a summit for delay tactics, and hoped that the meeting would allow countries to agree to phase out coal, even if G20 leaders could not agree on that point. said there is.
“The rather conservative International Energy Agency itself says no new fossil fuel infrastructure is possible to avoid dangerous warming, and the G7 countries will phase out coal early this summer. , has committed to end its support for new coal projects,” Mann said.
“We need to see similar commitments from G20 countries, including accelerating coal phase-out schedules.”
A G20 statement promised to stop financing coal abroad by the end of this year. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at his UN General Assembly in September an end to China’s funding of international coal, removing the funders of the world’s largest coal projects.
Helen Mountford, vice president for climate and economics at the World Resources Institute, said the deal and current emissions pledges were not ambitious enough to avoid the most dangerous levels of warming, and many countries could said it was unlikely to get on track toward net zero in its home country. schedule.
“To continue to meet the 1.5°C target, countries need to set 2030 climate targets that provide a realistic path to achieving these net-zero commitments,” she said in a statement. said.
“A number of G20 countries, including Australia, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Turkey, are not currently on a credible track to reach their net-zero goals.”
“My hopes leave Rome unfulfilled, but at least they are not buried,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday. He hoped Glasgow could “maintain the 1.5 degree target”.
His comments reflect the mood of many at COP26. There is a sense that unless the G20 can put an end to coal and make firm net-zero commitments, global engagement on these important issues will not come easily.
There is also the issue of trust. More than a decade ago, developed countries pledged to remit $100 billion a year to the Global South to help transition to a low-carbon economy and adapt to the new world of climate crisis.
That target was not met last year, and a report from the COP26 presidency released last week indicated that it would not be met until 2023 with current commitments in place.
Former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, who heads the Climate Vulnerability Forum, lamented the G20’s statements, particularly the lack of action on its failure to phase out coal. The Maldives is at the forefront of the climate crisis and at risk of being submerged by rising sea levels by the end of the century.
“This is a welcome start,” Nasheed said in a statement. “But we can’t stop the climate from rising by more than 1.5 degrees and devastating much of the world, including the Maldives. So clearly this is not enough.”
Net-zero, phasing out coal and financing climate action remain priorities for negotiators. Other potential successes include an agreement to end and restore deforestation by 2030, and a move to accelerate the global transition to electric vehicles.
Tom Burke, co-founder of the climate think tank E3G, was more optimistic, saying the G20 statement signaled a shift in leadership thinking about the urgency of the climate crisis.
“The big win is this shift in focus from 2050 to 2030. I think it’s an important big win,” he told CNN.
“We were off to a better start than expected.
[ad_2]
Source link
