Setting a price on carbon is a must in race towards net zero

IN the escalating climate crisis, many countries and large companies have vowed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. All eyes will be on COP26, the global climate summit which begins this weekend.

The conference has a number of objectives: to get countries to step up their "nationally determined contributions" (NDCs) which set out interim emission targets for 2030; to mobilise finance for emerging and developing countries; and to strengthen climate adaptation strategies. To date, the goal of raising US$100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries, set in 2009, has not been met. So far the prognosis seems bleak.

The latest report by the United Nations Environment Programme states that new and updated NDCs reduce the predicted 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by only 7.5 per cent. But the world needs a reduction of 55 per cent to be able to cap the global temperature rise at 1.5 degree Celsius, and 30 per cent for a cap of 2 degrees. At the current pace, the world is on track for a global temperature rise of at least 2.7 degrees in this century.