Glasgow Climate Pact

Glasgow Climate Pact is the name of an agreement signed at the COP 26. This agreement is the first climate agreement that clearly specifies unabated reductions in coal consumption. Efforts for “phasing out” coal were changed to “phasing down” later in the negotiations between India’s coal and China and other coal-dependent countries.

Highlights

The pact was passed by 196 Parties at the Glasgow Climate Conference (COP26). The Agreement is described as a mixed bag with some concrete achievements and some unfulfilled expectations. Most countries argued that the deal, albeit small, is an important step in keeping the hope of achieving the 1.5 °C temperature target alive. Observers and civil society groups, meanwhile, saw it as missing an opportunity to strengthen global climate protection.

Key Points

The Glasgow Agreement emphasizes that stronger measures in the current decade are paramount to achieving the 1.5 degree goal. The pact has asked countries to strengthen their 2030 climate protection plans by next year and also to increase climate protection ambitions. It has also called for withdrawal from coal and fossil fuels.

The agreement requires developed countries to at least double the amount available for adjustment by the year 2025 compared to the year 2019. In the year 2019, approximately $ 15 billion was allocated for customization. It also seeks to create a two-year work program to define global goals for adaptation. Santiago Network will also be funded, which aims to build various kinds of technical expertise regarding climate adaptation in all the vulnerable countries.

The agreement acknowledges that countries’ previous efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are inadequate to prevent the Earth from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. To solve this problem, the agreement has called on the government to strengthen these goals by the end of next year, rather than every five years as before.

It has proposed involving both developed as well as the developing countries to reduce emissions to zero. China has pledged to work on peak emissions in 2030 and develop a detailed roadmap for the Net Zero target for 2060. Israel has announced its net zero goal for 2050.

For the first time, the term “loss and damage” also appears in the cover section of the contract.

Significance of the pact

Focusing on the complete abandonment of coal-fired power generation, we first clearly recognized the need to move away from fossil fuels. -Recognizing the importance of adaptation, we promise to double the funds currently available to developing countries.  This is the first time that coal has been specifically mentioned in the COP decision.

Conclusion

Developing countries need to actively advance the CoP27 funding agenda in Egypt next year to ensure that sufficient funding is available. India also needs to have a clear vision of how to move from fuel taxes and fossil fuel subsidies to carbon taxes that facilitate the green transition of the domestic economy. In return for their financial commitment, India should be able to come up with a clear system for gradually reducing coal production capacity, as some countries in Southeast Asia and Africa did this year. But it must also continue to pressure developed countries to deepen emission reductions and share technology and funding. COP26 has transferred additional pressure to COP27 in Cairo next year. Until then, important steps must be taken in both India and developed countries for COP27 to be successful.