COP26: Stronger Carbon Cutting Targets by 2022 Drafted in Deal

The United Nations Climate Change Conference released a draft of an agreement that would call for stronger carbon cutting targets by the end of 2022.

The new global climate deal, drafted in Katowice, Poland this week, aims to keep average global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The accord is set to be finalized on Saturday evening.

This article provides background information about COP26 and its objectives as well as links to the draft agreement which will play a pivotal role in future negotiations over emissions cuts and their enforcement mechanisms.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference brings together representatives from nearly 200 countries for a two-week conference to discuss greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The Paris Agreement’s main objective is to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, or 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible.

One of the main topics discussed at COP26 was a draft agreement which aims to strengthen emission cutting targets by the year 2022 when this is reviewed again. This new deal comes after the Paris Agreement went into effect in 2016, but signatories have so far not been able to reach their climate goals. In fact, a report from the United Nations Environment Program shows that even if pledges under the Paris Agreement are implemented, global temperatures will still rise nearly 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Ahead of COP26 in Poland, countries got together to take stock of their efforts so far and gain a better understanding about where they stand when it comes to reaching their emission goals. This in turn gave negotiators an idea about what could be improved and how they can go about it in the coming years.

Will we see a stronger climate agreement? On Friday, delegates from 194 countries approved a draft of the Katowice Climate Package, which will serve as the basis for negotiations over stronger emission cutting targets. Some of the biggest economies, including the US and China, didn’t participate in drawing up this agreement because they are currently subverting international climate agreements.

While the UN Climate Change Conference took place from 3 – 14 December 2018, it’s worth remembering that COP stands for Conference of Parties which is an annual conference where representatives from nearly 200 countries get together to discuss climate change and to adopt a global stance on how to tackle it.

This year’s conference was held in Poland’s coal capital of Katowice. Coal is one of the biggest contributors to man-made CO2 emissions, which has been linked to climate change by scientists all over the world.

Apart from talking about climate change, the conference aimed to pave the way for establishing an international climate agreement before 2020. As of now, countries are supposed to submit their plans on how they plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 and 2030 in accordance with the Paris Agreement which went into effect in 2016. The IPCC concluded that global temperatures could still rise 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but this would require immediate action.

However, the Paris Agreement still needs some fine-tuning as countries are not yet on track to meet their targets. The world is currently on track for a 3 degree Celsius temperature rise by 2100.

This year’s United Nations climate talks in Poland will focus on strengthening emission cuts and establishing an international climate agreement ahead of the next annual conference in 2020.

A new global deal needs to be formulated at COP24, and Katowice is shaping up as a key battleground for how it will look. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is set to publish its landmark report on limiting global warming at the start of October, and this will give a boost to the discussions at COP24.

The IPCC report is going to be a core element of our discussions, said Michal Kurtyka , who chairs the summit .It is going to have a significant influence on all elements of negotiations.