The U.N. meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, was one of humanity’s last and best chances to keep the all-important goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive
It was only recently that the climate summit in Glasgow came to an end. Over 200 countries met to discuss the ongoing threat of climate change which if not kept in check could bring this world to its knees. With the increase in temperatures, there has been a change in climate throughout the world: icebergs melting, increase in sea level, extinction of species etc. are all the result of this directly or indirectly.
The world finally has accepted that climate change is a very real threat which was the reason the climate summits came to light. The negotiators from all countries at the COP26 summit came to an agreement in order to prevent the ever-changing, worse and potentially irreversible climate impacts.
The announcement had come several hours after the scheduled deadline as delegates had struggled to resolve many of the major sticking points like phasing out coal, reducing the usage of fossil fuel and providing subsidies and financial support to low-income countries.
The U.N. meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, is one of humanity’s last and best chances to keep the all-important goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive. This temperature threshold refers to the aspirational target inscribed in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement.
You might be wondering now what the Paris Agreement is? So, let us take a look at it:
The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.
The main goal of the treaty is to limit global warming to well below 2 or preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
In order to achieve this long-term temperature goal, the countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate-neutral world by the mid of this century.
To keep the average temperatures from surpassing this level will require the world to almost halve the greenhouse gas emissions within the next 8 years and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. This is critically important to prevent the worst of what the climate crisis has in store.
The world’s leading scientists have warned the world has already warmed roughly 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and the latest projections, despite numerous pledges at the Glasgow summit, show the world is on track for a rise of 2.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
Source: unfccc.int, cnbc.com
Image credit: phys.org
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