Climate summit begins in Glasgow

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 31

The UN climate summit opened today in Glasgow, kicking off two weeks of hectic diplomatic negotiations among nations to arrive at a common meeting ground to tackle global warming.

Called COP26 or the 26th Conference of Parties, the summit also aims to reach a consensus on unresolved issues of the 2015 Paris Agreement rulebook, long-term climate finance, market-based mechanisms, etc.

Challenges ahead

• To reach consensus on unresolved issues of Paris pact
• India has been pitching for level-playing field between developed and developing nations

The 2019 talks had ended with no action being taken. There are high expectations from Glasgow where speakers urged world leaders to fully implement the Paris pact and commit to more climate action to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

UK’s Alok Sharma, a British MP and the president of COP26, called on countries to work together, terming Glasgow summit the “last, best hope to keep 1.5°C in reach”. A glacier in Antarctica was also named after the summit.

Things are not expected to go easy as developing countries like India want global climate action to be guided by principles and values of climate justice and equity.

India, which will pitch for technology transfer and climate finance—two factors essential for level-playing field between developed and developing countries—today launched a tracking website to “build awareness, especially among the public of the global South, that climate action requires collective global action”.

Built by private researchers, the website, “Climate Equity Monitor”, will monitor the performance of annex-I parties under the UNFCCC (developed countries) based on the foundational principles of the climate convention. The performance and policies of the non-annex-I parties (developing nations) will be also provided for comparison.

“The website aims to debunk the narrative built by several developed countries and NGOs on what developing countries must do, constantly demanding greater commitment and action from them,” officials said.

Welcoming the initiative, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the website focusing on equity and climate action from data and evidence-based perspective would encourage a vigorous discussion on this crucial issue and engage experts from all countries.

The monitor provides an online dashboard for assessing, at the international level, equity in climate action, inequalities in emissions, energy and resource consumption across the world and ongoing climate policies of several countries.