COP26: No countries have delivered on promise to improve climate plans
In Glasgow, 196 countries promised to "revisit and strengthen" their plans for curbing emissions, but there is little sign of this happening before the next talks in November
ENVIRONMENT | ANALYSIS 16 May 2022
By Adam Vaughan
Sebastian Mernild’s presentation pulled no punches. As more than 40 countries met in Copenhagen last week to discuss progress since 2021’s COP26 climate summit, the University of Southern Denmark glaciologist greeted ministers with jagged red lines showing rising global temperatures. He reminded them that emissions are still growing. And he told them their goal of holding temperature rises to 1.5°C needs nothing less than “rapid, deep and sustained” emissions cuts.
“They all know what we are facing scientifically regarding 1.5°C,” says Mernild. Whether they are acting on that knowledge is another question. Half a year on from a deal at COP26 in Glasgow, it is far from clear if countries are delivering on the commitments they made.
COP26 president Alok Sharma said today that failure by world leaders to deliver on their pledges would be a “monstrous act of self-harm”. Speaking in Glasgow, he said he could understand why action to cut emissions had been pushed out of the spotlight by the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis, but reminded his audience that “climate change is a chronic danger” the world couldn’t ignore.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2320379-cop26-no-countries-have-delivered-on-promise-to-improve-climate-plans/
