Imagine a better climate pact than COP
This year’s United Nations climate summit in Dubai is unlikely to achieve much because all 197 states must agree on decisions. The need for unanimity is a recipe for twiddling thumbs while the planet fries.
It’s possible to imagine an alternative, better way to fight climate change. A few powerful nations could agree bold targets among themselves and then coax others to follow suit.
At some point, countries may get so frightened about the lack of sufficient action that they do precisely that. But record temperatures, climate disasters and gruesome predictions have yet to do the trick.
The snag is that China or the United States – which were responsible for 25% and 11% of greenhouse gases, respectively, in 2021 – would have to take the lead. Ideally, they would do so together. But neither country is willing to cut its own carbon emissions as fast as needed and their leaders have only just agreed to start talking again about climate change.
That is why the world is left with the annual Conference of the Parties (COP), where delegates fly to a different part of the world in search of unanimity. The current summit in Dubai is known as COP28 because it is the 28th of these conferences. Usually attendees cobble together a deal, but it lacks teeth.
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China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Why China's climate policy matters to us all
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Deliver on promises, developing world tells rich at climate talks
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.