The highly anticipated COP26 climate change summit kicks off today, Sunday, in the Scottish city of Glasgow.
Delegates from about 200 countries will attend the summit to announce their commitments towards cutting emissions by 2030 and limiting the global warming, as scientists urging world leaders to take the needed actions to avoid a climate catastrophe.
Delayed for a year due to the pandemic restrictions, the 26th conference of the parties (COP26) needs to secure more ambitious pledges to further cut emissions, decide in billions in climate finance, and finish the rules to implement the Paris Agreement.
The united nation’s gathering’s guests agreed in 2015 following the Paris agreement to keep global warming “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels, but since then, as extreme weather events have intensified, climate scientists have urged nations to aim for 1.5C to limit the risk of environmental disaster.
Sunday is largely a ceremonial opening day, with various speeches from leaders including Abdulla Shahid, the president of the UN General Assembly and Foreign Minister of the Maldives, as the low-lying islands of the Maldives are the most threatened by climate change dues to the rising sea levels.
Most of the leaders will arrive late on Sunday evening, as many are travelling from another summit, the G20, in Rome, where climate change’s issues topped the discussions.
Despite three decades of talking, the planet is now at least 1.1C hotter than the pre-industrial level – and rising.
However, for this conference, expectations of crucial changes that could lead to major changes to our everyday lives are higher than usual, as the risks are hitting even the first world nations. This year floods killed 200 people in Germany, heatwaves struck chilly Canada and even the Siberian Arctic was burning.
Moreover, scientists, nowadays, are clearer than ever that avoiding the most damaging temperatures means halving global carbon emissions by 2030 – a deadline looming close enough to urge world leaders to move to action.
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