Some wins at COP26 but finance vital to reverse climate change

ONE of the most iconic images of the just-ended COP26 in Glasgow would perhaps be of Tuvalu's foreign minister, Simon Kofe, addressing the UN climate summit standing knee-deep in the ocean, to drive home how his low-lying Pacific island nation has been struggling against rising sea levels.

The 2-week meeting has hogged the headlines as it was probably the final chance for a collective global resolve to reverse climate change before it is too late. An analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) of the COP26 commitments, including the pledge by India to boost renewables and reach net zero (of carbon emissions) by 2070, found that this would hold warming to 1.8 degrees Celsius, better than the catastrophic 2.7 deg C that had been projected by the United Nations early October, prior to the Glasgow summit. COP26 builds on the 2015 Paris Climate Summit which resulted in a global agreement to limit global warming to well below 2 deg C, preferably to 1.5 deg C compared to pre-industrial levels by the end of this century.

As expected there were mixed reactions about the commitments made at COP26. John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, said he had never counted as many initiatives and as much money being put on the table as during the conference, while climate activist Greta Thunberg branded COP26 a failure.