COP-26

30 November 2021

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the COP26, was held at the SEC Center of Glasgow, Scotland. From the 31st of October to the 13th of November, leaders from nearly 200 countries met together to discuss a plan to regulate and end climate change. In this article, we will explore what happened over those days…

COP26 was held in order to discuss international plans to combat climate change and achieve better relations between the leaders of different countries. The Paris Climate Treaties and any progress made on them was also discussed. These conferences are held every year (last year was an exception because of COVID-19), since the first conference in 1995, in Berlin. What was discussed this year? The World Leaders Summit was held on November 1-2, with each leader making a national statement on what their country is doing to combat climate change. An important objective of the conference that was discussed was to limit the temperature rise to 1.5ºC. Ceasing coal use for energy was also debated. The final agreements were approved by 197 countries - the largest pact-making alliance in history. The negotiators agreed on the goal of not exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century but after various disagreements, in the end they did not agree on the progressive elimination of fossil fuels such as coal. It is a crucial new pact for limiting climate change, but it is still clearly insufficient. Negotiations on this issue are unable to reach an agreement considered "realistic" by the many highly pollutant countries.

Carlos Tarodo Estelles